[PHOTO CREDIT: Lake County Sheriff’s Office]
[Original Publish Date: 11/02/19]
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TAVARES, Florida – A Umatilla man is being held on “No Bond” at the Lake County Jail on a Seminole County probation violation, together with new Lake County charges of scheme to defraud, fraudulent use of a credit card and petit theft. David Matthew Adams, 54, is accused of pocketing a woman’s wallet while at the Walgreens pharmacy at 2005 North S.R. Road 19 and subsequently making purchases with the woman’s credit card. Social media tips played a part in his arrest on Wednesday, according to a probable cause affidavit.
According to police, on Sept. 16, 2019, the victim paid for prescriptions at Walgreens but left her wallet on the counter. Surveillance video shows a man, who would later be identified as Adams, behind the woman in line, eventually grabbing the victim’s wallet from the counter and concealing it in his back pants pocket. A short time later Adams is seen making more than $300 worth of purchases at WalMart in Mount Dora – while “wearing the same exact clothing as he had on two hours earlier when he stole the victim’s wallet,” according to the affidavit. His “unique tattoo was visible on his right forearm as he walked out of the store with the fraudulently obtained items,” police noted.
After the Eustis Police Department released a photograph on Facebook, taken from the Walgreens video footage, “[t]wo callers advised the subject in the picture was David Matthew Adams [and one] anonymous caller advised David bragged to them about stealing the wallet, and told them it only contained $1 cash.” Adams also bragged about spending $350 at Walmart – using the victim’s credit card – according to the affidavit.
Adam’s arrest took place at the Lake County Jail, where he had landed two days prior on the Seminole County probation violation.
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James Hope is a Florida Bar Board Certified Criminal Trial Lawyer who has been practicing criminal law in Tavares, Florida, since 1987. He has also been the Publisher and Executive Editor of Lake Legal News since 2009. He may be contacted at LakeLegalNews@gmail.com, or through his website at www.AttorneyJamesHope.com. [PHOTO CREDIT: Bonnie Whicher]
