Woman got her latest ride to jail after ‘getting into a random stranger’s car’ at a McDonald’s drive-thru

CLERMONT, Fla. – A woman with the words “VIOLENT FELONY OFFENDER” stamped on each page of her latest arrest report is behind bars for crimes at a laundromat and a fast food drive-thru.

Police in Florida were called to the laundromat on the morning of Sept. 27 “for a call about Bethany Thomas cursing at a customer and getting into a random stranger’s car.”

That’s straight from the beginning of the report.

Minutes later, it continued, “Bethany Thomas approached occupied vehicles at the drive-thru lane at McDonald’s [address]. She first attempted to enter a[n] SUV but the SUV’s door was locked.

“She then approached a vehicle driven by [a woman] and opened the passenger door, which was occupied by [the woman’s] daughter. [The woman] yelled at Bethany and asked her what she was doing. Bethany said ‘oh’ and shut the door.

“Bethany then approached a car driven by [a man], opened the passenger door, and got into the car. [The man] told Bethany to ‘get out.’ Bethany punched [the man] in the face, removed his wallet from the center console, and fled from his car after a brief struggle. [The man] began to follow her in his vehicle.”

That man was later described as “elderly” and the report noted he “recently had heart valve surgery.”

At this point, the officer wrote in the report about seeing the victim “exiting the McDonald’s parking lot to go the wrong way on Highway 50.

“I then saw Bethany, matching the description from the original call, running from [the man]. [The man] yelled out his window to me, ‘She stole my wallet.’

“I stopped my car, got out and approached Bethany, who then was running back into the parking lot in my direction. Bethany was carrying a purse and plastic bag, which I removed from her possession. I placed Bethany into handcuffs and placed her into the back of my marked car.”

Then, “[The officer] saw a black wallet lying face-down in the roadway,” while talking to the victim.

“The wallet was confirmed to be [the man’s],” the arrest report said, “and had [the man]’s driver’s license in it. I gave the wallet back to [the man] and asked him to search it to ensure nothing was taken.

“[The man] informed me that $1,000 (specifically 10 $100 bills) had been removed from his wallet.” Police said Thomas “denied taking anything,” and they would address the money later.

“[The man] further revealed to me,” the officer continued, “that Bethany had punched him on the left side of his face, and that it caused pain and nearly caused him to vomit. He also explained that after she took the wallet, he grabbed her shirt and tried to stop her from escaping, but after a brief struggle she was able to get free and flee from his car.”

The officer noted the victim “was struggling to regain his breath,” and the investigation turned from him to the missing $1,000.

“[Another officer] conducted a frisk/search of Bethany at my request in the field, but nothing was recovered,” the officer wrote. “[A corporal] searched Bethany’s purse and nothing was recovered.”

The officer started driving, “informed Bethany of the charges,” and “informed her that I intended to have her strip searched at the jail. She became angry and called me a ‘n****r’ and a ‘fat ugly m**********r.’ She also said she wanted a lawyer.”

The conversation at the jail didn’t involve Thomas.

The officer wrote, “I informed deputies that I had probable cause to believe that Bethany was in possession of 10 stolen $100 bills, and requested a strip search of her person.

“During a strip search, [a deputy] noticed Bethany was holding her bra in a way that caused [the deputy] to believe Bethany might be concealing something in it.

“[The deputy’s] keen eye and initiative led to the recovery of the 10 stolen $100 bills from Bethany’s bra.

“Upon discovery, Bethany said, in sum and substance, ‘Don’t say nothing.’”

Thomas’ criminal history is rather long for a 34-year-old, and the arrest reports from each occasion provide details.

She was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in state prison for seven crimes she committed in Orange County in 2012. The sentence was mostly trafficking in stolen property and giving false information to a pawnbroker, and she served it from June 2013 to March 2015.

On Aug. 27, 2017, Thomas “became agitated and physically violent, striking the victim in the chest with her hands.” The victim was a man who she’d been “involved in an on-and-off romantic relationship for several years, and previously lived together as a family.” The arrest report said, “She asked him for some marijuana and/or money to buy marijuana.” The violence started “when he told her that he did not have any marijuana or money to give.” But he wasn’t the only victim. Thomas “was agitated, screaming to speak with the victim, and becoming verbally abusive towards law enforcement.” They put her “in the rear of my patrol car, unsecured,” an officer wrote, and she “began punching the partition window of my vehicle. The defendant was removed from the car and placed in handcuffs and returned to the rear of my patrol car. At that time, she began to hit her head against the partition glass. Due to the continuous physical outbursts by the defendant, she was placed in a four-point restraint for her safety. The determination was made that the defendant was in need of mental health services, and was placed under a law enforcement Baker Act.” They took her to a facility and the cop left “to retrieve paperwork” when “the nurse at the door shouted ‘oh crap, she ran out.’” The officer chased Thomas until she “fell in a retention pond” and returned her, but she “became agitated again.” She “grabbed my agency-issued firearm with her left hand in an attempt to remove it from my holster. I quickly turned my hips to the right and removed her hand from my firearm. The defendant, still resisting and pushing me, then grabbed my department-issued Taser by the handle, at which time I quickly rolled her over on her belly while still in the chair and secured handcuffs on her.”

On Oct. 14, 2018, Thomas went to a Walmart and “asked for a tire change. … While waiting, Ms. Thomas took and drank a Gatorade and a Pepsi.” She was given the price and told the manager “she was unable to pay. [The manager] and Ms. Thomas had a small verbal altercation in reference to paying her bill. [The manager] advised she then took off her ring and attempted to sell it to him, the other employees of Walmart, and customers. [The manager] told her that she was unable to do that, and to stop before he calls law enforcement. She then asked him not to, and if she could come back at a later time with the money. [The manager] told Ms. Thomas that she could, and that they closed at 8:00 p.m. [The manager] advised, Ms. Thomas then left [and] returned with a spare key for the vehicle, and she left Walmart with her vehicle. … She did not attempt to pay.” And, it turned out, she had “provided her brother’s information on the work order instead of hers.”

Nine days later, she arrived at a home in a trailer park where she used to live, and had been told not to return. “The arrestee became angry,” the report said, “and threw a red brick through a front window of the residence. The residence was occupied by the victim at time of the incident.

Later that day, “A Lake County corrections officer was placing the arrestee into a holding cell” when Thomas “balled her right hand into a fist and punched the victim in the left eye. This deputy observed swelling and redness of and around the victim’s left eye. 

At a trailer park on May 3, 2019, Thomas was “yelling and screaming to the tenants” and “immediately detained because she was already trespassed on 4/7/219 and she was told not to come back to the property.” A woman living there said Thomas “asked her if she can let her go inside. [The woman] advised the arrestee that she was not supposed to be there, and the arrestee became belligerent and angry. [The woman] advised that the arrestee proceeded to pick up a propane gas tank cylinder and threw it in the direction of the residence, and shattered one of the front windows. According to [the woman], the arrestee picked up the propane gas tank cylinder again, and shattered [a man’s] vehicle’s driver side window.”

From this point on, mugshots were available for most of Thomas’ arrests, clockwise from the top-left in the photo above. The charges were mostly for battery and drugs, and her stays in jail were rather long.

A domestic incident took place on the morning of Nov. 19. The victim, whose “left eye was read and swollen,” said Thomas “came out of her bedroom and stood in the hallway, blocking the victim’s path. The victim asked the arrestee to move and the arrestee balled her right fist, struck the victim in the eye, turned, and went back into her bedroom, closing the bedroom door behind her. The victim stated that the arrestee did not say anything to him, or give any indication as to why she struck him.” An underage girl was there and saw what happened. Thomas “stated that she did not know why she was being arrested. She first stated that she had not been out of her room since last night; then stated she had been out of her room to use the bathroom. The arrestee later asked, ‘How are you going to believe the girl? She didn’t even see when I hit Pete.’”

Thomas served two-and-a-half months in jail for battery and battery on law enforcement.

Thomas’ next two crimes took place in Polk County in 2020.

On March 5, her brother said they “got into a verbal argument over her refusing to go to her appointments, refusing to take her medicine, in which [sic] she began to throw items around the house. [The brother] advised after Bethany threw the things around the house, she ran out of the house in which [he] followed her because he was worried she was going to hurt someone else.” Instead, “[He] advised the argument turned physical when Bethany knowingly and intentionally turned around and kick[ed] him in his “privates (penis and balls ).”

On Aug. 30, a motel manager said “he heard the doorbell, indicating someone was outside the office. [He] was going to answer the door to the office when he noticed Thomas kick the front door, causing it to shatter.” Then, “While interviewing Thomas, she stated she was trying to get help from the business because there was an open sign.” She got some help in the form of the motel owner deciding “he did not want to pursue criminal charges.”

In September 2020, she served five days in Lake County for a probation violation for battery on law enforcement.

In October 2020, she started serving more than five months in Polk County for a probation violation for battery on law enforcement and failure to appear for domestic violence battery.

Back in Lake County on March 24, 2021, Thomas was back at the trailer park. “The caller stated that her father’s ex (Thomas) was on the property and was not allowed to be there due to a prior trespass warning.” A deputy found Thomas, “who stated that her charges were dropped eight months ago. I attempted to explain that her charges had nothing to do with a trespass warning issued by the tenants at this address. … I asked the defendant if at any time she the tenants invited her to the residence, at which time she stated ‘no.’”

Thomas served 34-and-a-half hours for trespassing.

The next month, she was involved in two crimes in two days.

Thomas was in a motel lobby on April 7, “screaming and yelling.” Authorities found her in a gas station parking lot where she “continued to scream, yell, and curse. Several attempts were made to get Ms. Thomas to calm down and cooperate. She was attempting to get a room to stay in at both [the motel] and [another]. Both locations refused her access.” A corporal tried to help Thomas, offering “to provide her with a ride to Tavares to find a place to stay. She agreed at this point to take the ride. Prior to her entering [the corporal’s] vehicle, a check of her backpack for dangerous object[s] was conducted, finding several prescription pill bottles with her information on the labels. A small coin purse was found within the backpack, containing a small amount of a green leafy substance that fell out to the ground during [the] check of the bag for any weapons. The green leafy substance was not tested, nor charges filed for the possession. At this time, Ms. Thomas became irate and got louder, with her screaming and cursing. Ms. Thomas lost her chance of a ride to Tavares by [the corporal] and then began asking other people for a ride. One victim, [name], was present in the parking lot when she asked him and began cursing at him when he refused. [The man] was offended and disturbed by this behavior.

Thomas was jailed two hours for breach of peace-disorderly conduct.

The next day, the manager of a business chased Thomas after she took “a red wine bottle from the Dollar General store, passed all points of entry, and threw it at a vehicle which was occupied by [a woman with her children], striking her vehicle. The manager further stated that the defendant, prior to throwing the wine bottle at the vehicle, was going around the store, asking customers for methamphetamine and for a ride.” Thomas was caught, and “kept avoiding answering anything regarding the incident. The defendant did, however, advise officers she is out on bond.” Officers reportedly found “two small baggies of a white powdery substance in the defendant’s wallet.”

Thomas was arrested again on charges involving domestic violence battery, possession of methamphetamine without a prescription, petit theft-third or subsequent offense, firing into a dwelling, criminal mischief with damage $200 or less, and trespassing after warning.

On Jan. 25, 2022, Thomas got into a fight with someone, apparently at her home. She and the other party “got into a verbal argument that escalated quickly. [The other person] walked into Miss Thomas’ bedroom to get a mirror from her and instead of handing him the mirror, she hit [the victim] on top of the head with it, and broke the mirror.” Then, in the kitchen, authorities said she “grabbed a plastic drinking pitcher and attempted to hit [the victim] with it.” The victim “refused medical treatment.” Later, “While on the way to the jail, she began screaming and yelling racial and profane language, then calmed down. This happened approximately three times on the way to Lake County Jail.”

Thomas served more than four months behind bars for domestic battery-second or subsequent offense and possession of methamphetamine

Another domestic disturbance took place July 25, 2022. She violated “a restraining order in place against Bethany due to an incident that occurred back in January of this year. [The victim] advised that Bethany had left the residence just prior to law enforcement arrival. [The victim] stated that Bethany grabbed a broom and struck [the victim] to [the] right side of his face.” He had “injuries consistent with being struck in the face. [The victim] had a laceration to the right side of his face. The laceration was observed to be still bleeding while speaking with [the victim]. [He] had no other visible injuries and denied further injuries to his person.” He said, “He believed Bethany to be under the influence of methamphetamine, due to her using back in January that caused Bethany to strike him at that time.”

But she wasn’t done. On the way to jail, “Bethany began hitting her head and slamming around the back of my patrol vehicle. After explaining to Bethany that she was being transported to the detention center, Bethany began spitting at me through the divider in my issued patrol vehicle. Bethany kept spitting after being told to stop, and kept telling me to take her to [a mental health facility]. [Three other officers] assisted in restraining Bethany and placing a spit shield on Bethany.”

Thomas ended up spending eight months in jail for battery on law enforcement, domestic battery-second offense, battery-second offense, possession of methamphetamine, and violation of a victim’s no-contact order.

And on Aug. 13, 2023, another domestic incident in which a man said Thomas “struck him in the face two times after he would not give her money for what he assumed was for street narcotics. The victim also advised the defendant was not taking her psychotropic medications as prescribed. While speaking to the victim, I observed swelling to his lower orbital socket, which he advised he sustained when the defendant struck him.” As for Thomas, she “did not wish to give a statement to me, but made excited utterances that the victim struck her first in the face. While speaking to the defendant, I did not observe any injuries to her face or person.” There were two witnesses: Thomas’ mother and underage niece. Thomas was taken to a hospital and then jail.

Thomas spent almost seven months behind bars for battery on law enforcement, battery-second or subsequent offense, and possession of methamphetamine.

She was released in March 2024 and sentenced to serve five years of probation for battery and drug crimes she committed in 2022 and 2023, but was arrested again for the robbery outside that McDonald’s.

Thomas is now charged with robbery, and four probation violations: possession of methamphetamine, battery on law enforcement, and two counts of battery.

She’s being held without bond.