DeLand, FL – A DeLand woman with a long arrest record goes back to Volusia County Jail for using a teenage girl to shoplift from a department store.
40-year-old Erica D. Bruten is charged with retail theft and child neglect by the DeLand Police Department in that Tuesday afternoon incident at Belk’s on 2617 South Woodland Boulevard.
An officer was sent to Belk’s around 3pm Tuesday after loss prevention workers at the store spotted Bruten and a 15-year-old girl on video taking men’s clothes and shoes off the rack and stuffing them into a large Belk’s plastic bag.
The officer spotted Bruten after she had walked out of the store with the bag in hand without trying to pay for any of the items inside and took her into custody at that point.
According to the arrest report, the teenage girl claims Bruten was using her as a look-out while she selecting items to shoplift, but Bruten told DeLand PD that the girl was unaware of what she was doing.
The report also noted that Bruten tried to leave the store with $735.42 worth of merchandise, which she claimed was clothes for her 3 kids.
Belk’s declined to pursue criminal charges against the teenager but did have the girl and Bruten trespassed from the store.
Bruten left VCJ after posting $5,000 bond.
VCJ records show Bruten’s been booked there 20 other times since January 2002.
DeLand PD Sergeant Chris Estes says the teenage girl’s identity was redacted from the report to protect her identity by Florida statute. Her exact relationship to Bruten wasn’t made clear by police.
Erica D. Bruten (mugshot courtesy VCJ)
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