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Deputies arrest woman who stole iPod from young boy at Publix a week before Christmas

Posted at 11:34 AM, Jan 04, 2018
and last updated 2018-01-04 11:34:40-05

Polk County deputies have arrested a 26-year-old woman after she was caught on surveillance video stealing a young boy's iPod from a checkout counter at Publix. 

Nancy Carrizal, 26, was arrested on Wednesday, January 3 and charged with petit theft and tampering with evidence.

The incident occurred on December 17, 2017. The boy's father told deputies his son and wife went to Publix on Shepherd Road in Lakeland during the evening hours. While at the store the boy sat his iPod Touch valued at $250.00 on the counter while his mother was checking out. The boy walked away to weigh from his mother to weigh himself on the scales and left the iPod sitting on the counter. When he returned to his mother and the counter, the iPod was gone. He asked the woman who was in line behind them if she saw it and she told him no. 

When the boy got home, the boy's father contacted Publix, who told them nobody had turned in the iPod. The boy's father reported the theft to Polk County Sheriff's Office and detectives reviewed the store's surveillance videos, which showed a customer in line behind the boy and his mother, grab the iPod and take it. It was the same woman the boy had asked when the incident occurred.

Detectives identified the woman as Nancy Carrizal after they posted the video on their facebook page. Detectives contacted Carrizal and she confirmed she was the person seen in the video and she arranged to meet detectives and return the iPod. She told detectives she made a mistake and thought it was her phone and that the iPod was dead and sitting in her junk drawer. She said she had been sick and was planning on contacting law enforcement after the holidays when she felt better. 

When detectives recovered the iPod from Carrizal, they turned it on and discovered all of the iPod's contents had been erased and it had been restored to its original factory settings on or around December 18, 2017. 

Carrizal was arrested and released after posting $1,500.

"This Grinch was caught red-handed stealing a child's property one week before Christmas. When confronted about it, she lied. She had an opportunity to return it to him right after she took it, when he asked her if she saw it. Now she's facing two criminal charges. Hopefully she's learned her lesson." - Grady Judd, Sheriff