An Ocala woman was arrested Wednesday after returning to the scene of an earlier crime.
An Ocala Police officer was called to the Wawa at 1001 S Pine Ave. this past Saturday and when he arrived, the manager said a woman, later identified as 30-year-old Rachel Nicole Preston, had taken several items from the minimart without paying for them, a report says.
The manager said Preston had been a passenger in a green Dodge Durango, which was being driven by a man. When the two entered the store, the man went to the front counter and purchased a pack of cigarettes and other miscellaneous items with cash, the report says.
At the same time, the manager said, a store employee watched Preston select a 32-ounce mug valued at $4.99 and remove the protective plastic wrapping. She then filled the mug with iced coffee and picked up a chicken Caesar salad valued at $4.99, two YoCrunch Vanilla Yogurts valued at $1.39 each and two Strawberry Banana BodyArmor Drinks valued at $2.59 each, the report says.
At that point, the manager said, Preston exited the store through a back door and got in the passenger seat of the Durango, which then drove away.
But store employees were unable to obtain the tag number of the vehicle before it left the area, the report says.
On Thursday, Preston returned to the Wawa in the same Dodge Durango and was parked next to the gas pumps when an Ocala Police officer arrived. He recognized Preston from the surveillance video of the previous theft and then read her her rights, the report says.
When asked about the incident the previous Sunday, Preston said she “could not remember what she did that day and did not recall stealing any items.” But a store clerk positively identified her from the incident and she was taken into custody and transported to the Marion County Jail.
Preston was issued a trespass warning from Wawa and charged with petit theft. She was being held with no bond and her next court date hasn’t yet been set.
Preston is no stranger to the Marion County legal system. She’s been held in the jail six times since March 2008 on various charges – all related to a petit theft incident, jail records show.