DELAND — A woman with a hankering for steaks and pork ribs traveled 26 miles to steal them from a Winn-Dixie in DeLand, Volusia County sheriff’s deputies said.
The trip didn’t go well for Doris Rowe, 48, of Mount Dora who dropped some pork ribs as she hit a store manager in the neck and escaped in a car waiting for her in the store’s parking lot, Volusia County sheriff’s deputies said.
Rowe and the driver of the getaway car, Kenneth Edwards, 54, who were caught Tuesday afternoon in a traffic stop made by DeLand police, were each charged with grand theft and robbery, court records show.
Rowe and Edwards were being held in the Volusia County Jail on Wednesday, each on $20,000 bail, records show.
After getting arrested, the duo gave investigators an idea how the meat heist developed, reports state.
Edwards said Rowe came to his house and asked to go to the store but could not explain why he drove to a Winn-Dixie at 3120 N. Woodland Blvd. near DeLand, 26 miles away from his Sanford home, deputies said.
Rowe said she asked Edwards to give her a ride to DeLand and stopped first at the Winn-Dixie in south DeLand. What Rowe said happened at the south DeLand store was redacted from the report but Rowe said she then went to the store on north Woodland Boulevard at the Brandywine Shopping Center.
That’s where a manager called deputies at 2:02 p.m. Tuesday after seeing Rowe stuff a bunch of meat products and other items in her pants, deputies said.
As Rowe left the store, the manager stopped her and grabbed onto some merchandise but Rowe hit the manager in the neck multiple times, dropping a pack of pork ribs, two packs of detergent and three water filters, deputies said.
Rowe then dove head-first into the car Edwards was driving and they sped out of the parking lot, deputies said.
Once inside the car, Rowe started pulling steaks out of her pants, reports show.
When deputies searched the car, they found five ribeye steaks valued at $123.24, two 3-pound packs of ground beef valued at $23.94, four packs of bacon valued at $43.99, two packs of pork ribs valued at $31.09 and a $2.49 gallon of bleach, reports detail.
The total value of the stolen merchandise, which were largely meat products, totaled $361.31, Volusia deputies said.