A 52-year-old Ocala man was arrested after he walked out of a local Winn-Dixie with a shopping cart full of unpaid groceries.
On Sunday, a Marion County Sheriff’s Office corporal responded to the Winn-Dixie located at 7131 N U.S. Highway 441 in Ocala in reference to a theft in progress.
Upon arrival, the corporal was informed by MCSO dispatch that a man, later identified as Hector Luis Turell, had pushed a shopping cart full of unpaid grocery items out of the store, and those items were loaded onto the bed of a blue 2008 Ford pickup truck.
While the corporal was surveying the parking lot for the pickup truck, a Winn-Dixie manager spotted Turell as he was attempting to hide between several parked vehicles. The corporal approached Turell and detained him.
Turell admitted to exiting the grocery store with a shopping cart full of unpaid items. He claimed that he was “going to pay for them” after he was finished placing the groceries onto the bed of the pickup truck.
The manager conducted an inventory of the grocery items that Turell had taken from the store, and those items were valued at nearly $268.
Several seasoning packets were also located inside Turell’s pockets. He admitted to stealing those packets, and he again told the corporal that he intended on paying for all of the groceries that were inside the shopping cart.
The corporal conducted a criminal history search on Turell and discovered that he had multiple prior convictions in Marion County for petit theft and grand theft.
Turell was arrested and transported to Marion County Jail where he is currently being held on $2,000 bond. He is facing a felony charge for second degree petit theft (third or subsequent offense).
A court date has not been scheduled yet, according to jail records.