Woman ‘stole 30 various items’ from Walmart, but the broken meth pipe was hers, deputies say

SUMMERFIELD, Fla. – A woman is facing three criminal charges after her alleged shoplifting spree at Walmart came to a sudden stop, and she did something similar a few years earlier. 

The asset protection manager at a store in Florida reported seeing Jessica Marie Zamudio “taking tags off of Walmart merchandise without paying” on Sept. 10.

The arrest report continued, “The defendant then proceeded to walk past all active cash registers, into the bathroom.”

UPDATE: Zamudio pleaded no contest to each of the three charges and was sentenced to 45 days in jail, with credit for 36 days served. She was released on Oct. 23 and still has financial obligations to pay.

Then, from the bathroom, she “proceeded to exit the business, officially passing all points of sale without paying for the merchandise.”

The Walmart employee reported Zamudio “stole 30 various items, such as food, clothes, book bags, and electronics, all totaling up to $340.28.”

Zamudio was stopped and authorities said she told them “some of the items inside of the stolen book bags were hers.”

Deputies started “searching through and dividing what belonged to the store,” and what belonged to the suspect, and they “across a securely locked small pouch which was filled with unknown items.”

One of the deputies wrote, “When I asked the defendant how to open the locked bag, she advised it needed to be opened with a key, which was at her residence.” 

Authorities didn’t make the trip. 

Instead, “Deputies forcibly opened the pouch and discovered more merchandise inside of [the] pouch, including a cold pack of hot dogs, a book, candy, and a small black case that contained a broken meth pipe.

“Post Miranda, the defendant advised her choice of drug is meth, which she uses to self-medicate. 

“The defendant further advised she was trying not to get a secondary charge if she did not need to.”

It wasn’t her day. She ended up getting that drug charge, and more.

SEE ALSO: Woman came prepared to shoplift at Walmart, but got busted again and again in the hospital and jail

Zamudio was arrested and taken to jail, and the report said, “Upon arrival, the defendant was found concealing a key in her bra, which is used to unlock the previously locked pouch where the more stolen merchandise and paraphernalia were found.

“She was charged with giving false information, due to lying about the key’s whereabouts and trying to impede the investigation and recovery of further stolen merchandise.”

Zamudio, 45, was also charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and petit theft between $100 and $750. 

Her bond was set at $2,000 and she has not yet been released. She also pleaded not guilty.

Zamudio faced two of the same three charges after a similar situation in 2022: possession of drug paraphernalia and retail petit theft.

She spent 20 minutes in the bathroom of an Ace Hardware, and the arrest report said she left “a wrapper for Fiskar 9” scissors ($22.99), but the scissors were missing.” She told a police officer “she put the scissors back,” and the officer wrote, “Jessica showed me to the shelf where the scissors were, but she could not locate the scissors.”

It was the same story with an $8.99 flame torch, but the officer wrote, “An employee alerted me that the defendant had the torch in her waist band in her shirt. I lift the defendant’s shirt off her waist and observed a torch sticking out,” which “was full and appeared to be brand new.”

Then, another officer found “a pipe in the defendant’s cleavage” and “a piece of a syringe in the defendant’s bra.”

Zamudio spent 41 days in jail and took a plea deal for time served.