TAVARES, Fla. – A woman with a history of trouble — with 2024 a particularly bad year — is being held behind bars, which is exactly where her latest violation reportedly took place.
A sheriff’s deputy in Florida “responded to the Lake County Jail in reference to an inmate battering a nurse,” on the night of Sept. 22.
UPDATE: On Oct. 7, her case was moved from felony to misdemeanor court and on Nov. 12, she changed her pleas to no contest. And on Nov. 14, she pleaded no contest to the felony petit theft at Publix and was sentenced to 180 days in jail with credit for 26 days served.
The victim had just finished “administering detox medication” to Jennifer Lynn Scroble, the arrest report said,
when “Jennifer reaches around using her right hand, and grabs a hold of the back of [the nurse’s] neck, shirt, and necklace.
“At that point, [two detention deputies] intervene and attempt to break away Jennifer’s grip on [the nurse].
“[The nurse] advised she did not remember how they were separated, but [the nurse] ended up walking away while deputies attempted to restrain Jennifer.
“It should be noted prior to the incident, [the nurse] asked Jennifer if she ‘wanted to hurt herself or anyone else,’ and her reply was ‘no,’” so she apparently lied, as well.
“I spoke with Jennifer,” the deputy continued. “She was taking her detox medication and she grabbed the nurse and went to the ground, but does not remember anything else regarding the incident.
“It should be noted that while interviewing Jennifer, she was in the W.R.A.P. restraint device and could not write a statement, but made one verbally.”
No Victim Contact Order, Sept. 23, 2024 by Lenny Cohen on Scribd
Scroble was ordered to have no contact with the victim, should she be released.
She was locked up three days before that incident after her Sept. 19 arrest outside a Publix supermarket.
Managers told Eustis police “they were standing at the front of the store, and while speaking with other employees,” they saw Scroble “with a black handbag on her left shoulder, walking hastily, and the bag appeared full of items,” the arrest report said. “[One of them] said Jennifer appeared nervous and avoided eye contact.”
But she left in a pickup truck and wasn’t arrested right away.
That manager took pictures of “Jennifer exiting the store, and the truck she entered,” and got a pretty good description.
“The truck had the windows rolled down and company lettering on the vehicle’s side stating, ‘Construction (Residential & Commercial) 24-hour emergency services,’” she reported. “The truck also had a listed phone number on the side.”
The arrest report also said security video “showed Jennifer entering Publix, passing all points of sale, and concealing two cans of Similac Alimentum valued at $36.99 each, for total of $73.98.
“[The manager] also believes that Jennifer possibly took a box of Systane eye drops while walking towards the pharmacy section.”
After five minutes, the officer wrote, “Jennifer is seen walking toward the exit of Publix with a bag that appears full of items and then exiting the store.”
Meanwhile, another officer spoke “with the owner of the truck via cell phone, who advised that the female who took the items was Jennifer Lynn Scroble and that he would be driving back to Publix to drop her off and return the items she had taken.”
According to the managers, “Jennifer had been caught stealing in the store before, but had always been stopped. They also stated that Jennifer always came to the store with the same black bag.”
An hour-and-a-half after she entered, “Dispatch received a call from Publix stating that Jennifer was outside waiting for law enforcement.”
Then, the driver reportedly told police “he was giving Jennifer a ride to Publix and then taking her to another location, and had no idea that Jennifer had stolen from Publix.”
As for Scroble, the officer wrote, “I asked Jennifer where the items were, and she stated they were in the truck in her bag. I asked Jennifer to remove the items from the bag, which she did.”
Then, “She stated that her friends had come to Publix to grab a drink and while she was sitting in the truck, she remembered she that she had to feed her baby, so she entered Publix to purchase it.
“While in Publix, she advised that she intended to pay even though she had no money, but due to her friend not replying to her and sending her the money, she decided to steal the baby formula and the eye drops.”
The arrest report ended, noting Scroble “had three prior convictions for grand theft and a felony petit theft conviction for a third or subsequent offense.”
She racked up another felony that day, as she did June 25, when a Mount Dora police officer said Scroble “was detain[ed] inside of Walmart due to concealing items in a purse and passing all points of sale without rendering payment.”
The arrest report described her in the arts and crafts, home goods, and hardware sections before she was caught.
In 2019, Scroble was arrested for driving with a suspended license-third or subsequent offense. The arrest report said she had “three prior guilty suspensions and currently had four suspensions on her license,” and there was an impound vehicle order issued by the state. Prosecutors did not pursue that felony.
In 2015, she was a passenger when the driver was pulled over for not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign.
The arrest report said he “provided consent to search the vehicle.” Then, a deputy found a duffel bag with “a syringe on the side pocket with a liquid residue inside.”
Scroble reportedly “stated the bag was her cousin’s and the syringe might contain Subutex,” and the deputy described what happened after her arrest.
“I placed the female in my back seat while I was going to test the syringe,” he wrote. “I immediately noticed that the female started moving around, and when I looked, she was digging in her pants like she was trying to remove something or hide something.
“I pulled her out of the vehicle. In between my back seat and back seat rest, I located a digital scale that had not been there prior to the arrestee. When I removed the arrestee and she was asked about it later, she advised it was on her and she was holding it for a friend.
“The female also advised me there was a Xanax in her bra. She removed this and provided me a cellophane wrapper with one oblong pill with Xanax 2 inscribed on it. This was identified as alprazolam, a Schedule IV narcotic. She stated that she received it from a friend, since she was having bad anxiety.”
But the two weren’t done.
“I placed the female back in my car,” the deputy wrote, “and noticed she continued to dig in her pants. I asked her several times if she had anything else on her, to avoid the introduction-of-contraband charge. She told me several times no and that they would not find anything at the jail.
“As I was turning into the jail, she asked if she could be honest with me. I said yes. She stated she had two ‘rigs’ in her pants. Upon arrival at the jail, she removed two syringes, and empty cellophane wrapper, a pen capsule with white powder residue, and a spoon from her pants. She stated she used these for Subutex.”
The charges against Scroble were dismissed. Her lawyer had argued the court suppressed “the evidence of the drug paraphernalia initially found in the duffle bag which was the basis of the original arrest, and all additional evidence found after the arrest. … The defendant has now been incarcerated for 11 months on what this court has determined to be an improper search.”
All that came after Scroble served two sentences in state prison: eight months, 2014-15, and a year, 2017-18. Each followed convictions on five counts of burglary and grand theft.
Scroble, 38, was charged with battery on detention facility staff and resisting without violence after the incident with the nurse in jail. She pleaded not guilty to both charges.
Then, this past Monday, her case was moved from felony to misdemeanor court. Now, Scroble has a plea negotiation conference scheduled for Nov. 20.
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