A Leesburg Police officer was called to a Publix grocery store Sunday night after a loss prevention officer reported catching a man stealing packages of meat under his jacket.
When the officer arrived, the loss prevention officer told him that he saw a man later identified at 34-year-old Horace Lamar Saucier, of Ocala, walk through the meat department wearing a white T-shirt, black camouflage pants and a heavy white winter coat. He said he watched Saucier select several packages of meat from the sales display and conceal them inside his heavy jacket, a Leesburg Police report states.
Saucier then walked to the front of the store and passed by the cash registers without paying for the items, the loss prevention officer claimed. Once outside the store, Saucier was stopped by members of the store’s management team and the loss prevention officer.
When they escorted Saucier back inside the store, they recovered five packages of ribeye steaks and one package of beef oxtails with a value of $141.15, the report says, adding that Saucier admitted to the theft.
After Publix management requested Saucier be prosecuted and trespassed from the store, located at 717 N 14th St., he was taken into custody and transported to the Leesburg Police Department for booking. The officer then discovered that Saucier was on probation for a prior drug charge, which started on Sept. 13. And records showed that Saucier also received a misdemeanor citation last Tuesday, Nov. 13, the report says.
Saucier, who lives at 484 Lake Road in Ocala, was transported to the Lake County Jail and charged with larceny/petit theft, possession of heroin less than 10 grams and a probation violation for possession of cocaine, jail records show. He was held on $1,000 bond on the petit theft charge and is due in a Lake County courtroom on Dec. 4 at 8 a.m. to answer to the charge.
Saucier, who has been in the Lake County Jail four times since November 2016, was held on no bond on the drug charges and is scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 10 at 8:30 a.m.
Prior to Sunday, Saucier’s latest arrest came March 29 when he was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill; battery; possession of marijuana 20 grams or less; purchase and possession of heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine; possession of drug equipment and tampering with a victim/witness; as well as probation violations for resisting an officer/obstructing without violence and battery. Saucier was held with no bond on those charges and eventually was released from jail on Sept. 13.