LEESBURG, Fla. – Employees at a Walmart watching surveillance cameras reported seeing a woman “conceal items into” her gray purse. This wouldn’t lead to the first time Krystle Renae McCray was arrested for shoplifting. Or the second.
The arrest report from Dec. 23 in Florida said they told police McCray “went to the cash registers and then exited the store without purchasing any items. The item they witnessed she concealed was still in her purse.
“Prior to officers’ arrival, the defendant was confronted by loss prevention and she removed the stolen item from her purse, and attempted to leave the store parking lot. When [an officer] arrived on scene, he located the defendant at her vehicle, detained her in handcuffs, and escorted her to the loss prevention officer inside the store.”
Officers watched the surveillance video and reported
McCray “was seen to have selected the item from a shelf in the sporting goods section of the store, and placed it in her shopping cart. The defendant then went to the next aisle over and removed the security wrap from the item, and tossed it under a shelf.
“She then moved the item from the shopping cart into her gray-in-color purse at the top of the cart. The defendant proceeded to the cash register area, where she left the shopping cart and exited the general merchant side of the store, with her purse containing the stolen item.”
The report said employees told police “they confronted the defendant outside of the store. The defendant removed the stolen item from her purse and claimed she came into the store with it, and stated it was hers. Loss prevention staff advised, the defendant then displayed a piece of cardboard with yellow and orange stickers on it, and claimed to be returning the item. Loss prevention staff stated the piece of cardboard was from a completely different item’s packaging, and that they have not used those stickers in years. The defendant was also unable to produce a purchase receipt for the item.”
The item reportedly stolen was a Garmin brand Vivid 4CV transducer with a value of $180.
McCray was arrested and “made several spontaneous utterances,” an officer wrote, “claiming to have been attempting to return the item. However, the details she provided in regards to how she was going to return the item changed several times.
“The defendant said she had the receipt in her vehicle for the item, and then stated she had the previously mentioned piece of cardboard with the stickers on it, which should have allowed her to return the item.
“The defendant did not comment when I inquired on what was witnessed on the surveillance footage.”
Authorities looked into McCray’s criminal history and found she had two prior convictions for theft – in June 2006 and November 2023 – but McCray was out on bond after yet another incident – also in Leesburg, Lake County – more recently.
Even worse for her, a home improvement store employee was quoted in that court document saying “she is responsible for thefts at Lowe’s all over central Florida.”
The employee said on May 13, McCray, who was with a man and wearing a green striped dress and black shower cap, took “two Protran 2 manual transfer switches, valued at $399 each, and a SurfaceMaxx 1/4” 25-foot pressure washer hose, valued at $29.98. The total amount for all items selected was approximately $827.98.”
Their next stop, the detective wrote, was “the customer service desk at the front of the store,” where McCray “distracted the clerk while the [man] exited the store with the items.” Finally, “Once the [man] exited the store, the [woman] followed behind him. Both subjects were observed on surveillance cameras arriving and departing in a silver-in-color 2023 Toyota Camry, bearing a Tennessee license plate.”
Nobody confronted the couple that day. They didn’t watch the video until later. But the detective learned the car was registered to a rental company, and “the person who rented the aforementioned vehicle used in this incident during that time frame” was McCray’s father. Despite that connection, authorities said he was not the man in the video.
In June, the detective got an arrest warrant for McCray for grand theft $750 to $5,000.
A similar event took place five days earlier, and was mentioned in the document. It happened at a Lowe’s in Winter Garden, Orange County.
An employee said McCray and a man “placed three ceiling fans in a shopping cart. The couple then approached the self-checkout registers. The female distracted the employee working in the area, and while the employee was distracted, the male exited the store” with the fans, each worth “$299.98 for a total loss of $899.94.” They left in the same car.
The employee believed the female suspect was McCray, saying, “He had approximately 20 prior shoplifting cases involving Krystle at central Florida Lowe’s locations.”
A detective wrote about trying to call McCray’s father on May 15 “via the phone number provided during the vehicle rental,” but getting his voicemail. The next day, they spoke.
“[The father] confirmed he rented the silver Toyota Camry from Enterprise Rent-a-Car,” the detective continued. “I asked [him] who used or had access to the vehicle. [He] stated he was the only person who drove the vehicle. [He] then asked why I was calling about the vehicle. I asked [him] what his relationship with Krystle McCray was. [He] replied that Krystle McCray was his daughter. I informed [him] that Krystle McCray was identified via a photographic lineup as [the] suspect who worked with a male to steal ceiling fans from Lowe’s in Winter Garden. I informed [him] that the pair arrived and left the store in the rental vehicle in his name.
“I asked [him] for a phone number for Krystle and he advised he would drive to her location and call me back within an hour.” The report does not say whether that ever happened.
Finally, with another warrant, McCray was eventually arrested at a Winn-Dixie grocery store near Orlando on Aug. 27.
“Krystle held numerous active/outstanding warrants from Orange County Sheriff’s Office, Lake County Sheriff’s Office, Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, and Sumter County Sheriff’s Office,” the officer who arrested her wrote. She bonded out soon after.
Unlike that occasion, McCray’s bond was revoked after her latest arrest at Walmart for petit theft with 2+ prior convictions in December. She has been in jail ever since.
The man accompanying her in the two Lowe’s thefts reported here remains unidentified.
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