Video caught her doing the crime, cops say. Hubby watched — and helped with her arrest

Jan. 09--Verlin Wilson is a veteran thief. But she just put on a new twist on getting arrested.

Her husband, Eddie Joe Wilson, drove the 68-year-old to her arrest after they watched her theft on Facebook.

That's according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office, which charged Verlin Wilson with theft, petit theft second offense and unlawful use of personal ID over a Dec. 19 incident at a Dollar General store in Mulberry.

Surveillance video showed a woman the sheriff's office identified as Wilson walking up to the checkout line, putting her items on the belt, then taking advantage of finding a wallet left behind. She opens it and appears to use cash from it to pay for the goods she had just put on the conveyor belt.

The woman who left the wallet told police it had a two credit cards, her insurance card, her driver's license and $200 to $250 cash.

The sheriff's office shared the video with media and on their Facebook site. On Jan. 2, a call came in from Conley Bail Bonds in Bartow -- a woman was there to turn herself in for the wallet theft posted on Facebook.

"Eddie Wilson advised he drove his wife, Verlin, to turn herself in, after watching the video," the sheriff's office said in a release.

Verlin Wilson also wheeled to a theft arrest in Polk -- in a motorized wheelchair. In August 2015, video caught Wilson packing $84 worth of groceries in a plastic bag as she rolled around Walmart's supermarket section in the wheelchair. Without paying, she rolled right out the door, according to deputies. The arrest report says she told the arresting officer, she didn't know why she did it. She hadn't stolen anything since she was 15 years old.

Whenh she was 52, she pleaded guilty to theft in 2003. As with the 2015 theft case, Wilson received six months' probation and a fine.

David J. Neal: 305-376-3559, @DavidJNeal

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