The Lake Wales Police Department arrested Angela Crawford (DOB 5/13/1979), of Lakeland, on July 8 and she was charged with one count of petit theft. The alleged crime took place at the Lake Wales Rural King, located at 1970 Hwy. 60 E. When questioned by law enforcement, Crawford advised that a camera found in her purse belonged to a “friend.”
Below is the arrest affidavit:
It should be noted that this is an unedited and redacted report of facts by the LWPD. These facts are up for question and everyone is entitled to question the validity of facts by law enforcement in a court of law. The Lake Wales Daily does not rewrite these facts as some meanings or interpretations could be in error and change context. We hope readers appreciate being able to read the information and come to their own understanding and conclusions:
On July 8, 2024, I responded to the Rural King located at the above address in reference to an occurring retail theft.
Upon arrival, I made contact with the reporting person, REDACTED. REDACTED advised the female subiect actively stealing was located inside the store near the footwear aisle. REDACTED escorted me to the area, where I located the female subject bolding a tote with several items inside of it. I made contact with the female subject and asked her to identity herself. She identified herself as, Angela Crawford. I advised Crawford the reason why law Enforcement was present, was due to her actively stealing items. Crawford stated she was not stealing from the store and placed the tote on the floor. I detained Crawford in handcuffs and escorted her to my marked patrol vehicle.
As I placed Crawford into my marked vehicle, I read Crawford her Miranda Rights off of my agency issued Miranda Rights Card. Post-Miranda, Crawford denied of stealing any items and advised she was attempting to purchase them. Prior to handcuffing Crawford, I observed in her purse, several items which appeared to be brand new with no tags on them. Crawford was asked about the items in her purse and denied to stealing the items. Crawford stated those items were recently brought and left inside of her purse.
I returned inside the store to make contact with REDACTED and a possible witness of the retail theft. REDACTED stated she was notified of Crawford from another associate who was REDACTED. REDACTED stated she observed Crawford inside the store and recognized her from an “in-house” bulletin. Due to the recent retail thefts that occurred. REDACTED notified REDACTED and was proceeding to maintain visual of Crawford throughout the store. REDACTED stated she observed the black purse Crawford possessed and advised the purse appeared to be empty and weightless.
REDACTED advised she observed Crawford enter the restroom with items in her possession and as Crawford exited Crawford did not have the items and the purse she possessed appeared to be full. At this point, law enforcement arrived and was able to detain Crawford.
With the information I obtained, I returned to Crawford to further interview her about the incident. Crawford continued to deny taking any items from Rural King and advised she obtained those items prior to entering the store. I took possession of the purse and obtained the items inside. I requested inventory information from REDACTED from the items inside of the purse.
REDACTED was able to advise inventory information of the items and further explained the camera inside of Crawford’s purse was last sold on June 4, 2022. In addition, the camera she possessed in the purse was the camera in stock and was missing from the shelves inside of the store. I questioned Crawford about the camera and she continued to deny the theft of the camera. Crawford stated the camera was given to her prior to entering Rural King by a friend. When I questioned Crawford about the friend. Crawford could not provide any information.
I was able to obtain the totals for the items recovered, which was a brown big game camera valued at $159.93, a screwdriver bit set valued at $2.59, and a Milwaukie charger valued at $59.00. Those items were seized from Crawford and returned to REDACTED at Rural King. I contacted the Crime Information Center (CIC) to obtain a further criminal history on Crawford. CIC contacted back and advised Crawford possessed a prior theft conviction dated back on October 7, 2008 for petit theft which The Polk County Sheriff’s Office worked (CF0800534701XX).
Based on the facts in this investigation, Angela Crawford took possession of or carried away merchandise from a merchant and altered/removed a label from merchandise. Crawford did so with the intent to deprive the merchant of possession, use, benefit, or full retal value of the merchandise. Crawford was criminally charged with one count of petit theft.
