Most of the time the story starts off with “Man in Florida…”. This time it is a drugged-out woman. This time a Florida woman, who was wanted for allegedly shoplifting at a Big Lots store was arrested after trying to make her getaway through the ceiling.
Kristina Perkins, 37, was at a Big Lots in Port Charlotte, Florida (on the west coast), for several hours on Thursday night before she entered the women’s restroom with a shopping cart full of Big Lots crap.
The store manager knowing something was wrong, tried to check on Perkins in the bathroom, but noticed “several garbage cans positioned in a manner to barricade the door,” according to the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office.
What Did She Do to Escape
Perkins was told by Big Lots management that she was caught and the police were on the way, but she never left the bathroom. The manager finally went inside to check on her and noticed tile missing from the ceiling and Perkins nowhere in sight.
Deputies spotted Perkins several times after removing tiles from various points in the ceiling. She allegedly didn’t listen to police commands to stop, and she kept crawling through the ceiling. The store was evacuated due to the danger of Perkins falling through the ceiling.
The 37-year-old led authorities on the chase for roughly six hours.
What Finally Happened
While trying to capture Perkins, another deputy found her purse. It reportedly had “three syringes and a spoon with white residue that tested positive for Morphine” in it.
Eventually, at just around 1:40 a.m., Perkins eventually came down from the ceiling using a stack of shelves. She was arrested as soon as her feet touched the floor.
Big Lots, according to the sheriff’s office, suffered “significant damage to their ceiling, their duct work and the dry wall”. They will remain closed until the necessary repairs can be made.
Perkins was charged with felony criminal mischief, petit theft, possession of drug paraphernalia, resisting a merchant and resisting law enforcement without violence.
You gotta love Florida and all of its fun and cooky girls. Kristina just wanted to shop and be left alone. Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out that way. Bad shopper!
