A Marion County sheriff’s deputy was called to an Ocala minimart on Wednesday after a woman claimed her cell phone was ripped from her hands and stolen.
The woman told the deputy that she had traveled from the Daytona Beach area to sell her iPhone XR. She said she had been contacted on Facebook Marketplace by a man who was interested in the phone, so she obtained the man’s phone number and a meeting was set up at the Circle K at 6820 Maricamp Rd. in Ocala, a sheriff’s office report states.
The woman said the man walked up to her car and she was sitting in the driver’s seat while showing him the $750 phone. She he then leaned in and without permission quickly removed the phone from her hands while saying, “Let me see that,” the report says.
The woman said she was in fear and didn’t attempt to stop the man. She said the man walked away from her car and she tried to follow him when he left the parking lot but wasn’t able to locate him, the report says.
Detectives from the Major Crimes Unit were advised of the situation and are investigating, the report says.