Polk County Sheriff’s detectives, partnering with the Lakeland Police Department, Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, Plant City Police Department, and Beall’s Loss Prevention personnel, arrested four people for Organized Retail Theft during the weekend of February 4-6, 2011.
The investigation began in January 2011 when detectives with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office received information that two Lakeland women, Marjoree Poll (DOB 8/11/78 of 1121 South Central Avenue in Lakeland) and Miriam Bermejo (DOB 7/11/68 of 1128 Oakhill Street in Lakeland) were stealing items from different stores around Polk County and giving them to their “fences,” Salvador Carvajal (DOB 9/27/56 of 4727 South Dawn Meadows Court in Plant City) and Donald Reams (DOB 6/20/72 of 1826 Dorothy Street in Lakeland). The two “fences” then sold the stolen goods.
According to their affidavits, Poll and Bermejo would shoplift clothing from Beall’s Department and Outlet stores in the Lakeland area by concealing the items within large purses, commonly known was “booster bags,” that they carried. Detectives learned that the two women would either pawn the stolen items themselves, or they would meet with Carvajal or Reams and give them the stolen items. Carvajal and Reams, who worked independently of each other, would in turn sell the stolen items.
Poll and Bermejo would also take stolen items back to the stores from where they stole them and obtain merchandise gift cards, redeemable only within those stores. They gave these cards to Carvajal, and he in turn would sell them on the internet for less than their face value. The women also told detectives that Carvajal or Reams would give them “shopping lists” of items to steal, such as women and children’s clothing, before they went into the stores.
The two women admitted to stealing from such stores as Beall’s Department Store, Beall’s Outlet Store, Big Lots, and Lowes.
On Friday, February 4, 2011, detectives from PCSO and LPD served search warrants at Poll’s and Bermejo’s residences, and placed both women under arrest. The detectives, working with Plant City Police and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, then arranged for the two suspects to meet with their “fence,” Salvador Carvajal, near the county line between Polk in Hillsborough Counties, due to the fact that he lives in Plant City. After witnessing Carvajal make a deal with the women to purchase what he knew to be stolen or fraudulently obtained merchandise gift cards, detectives placed Carvajal under arrest.
Poll and Bermejo were booked into the Polk County Jail and charged with Organized Retail Theft. Their bonds have each been set at $20,000, and they both remain in jail at this time.
Carvajal was booked into the Polk County Jail and charged with Grand Theft and Dealing in Stolen Property. He has bonded out of jail. Reams was booked into the Polk County Jail and charged with Grand Theft, Possession of Cannabis, and Possession of Paraphernalia. He has bonded out of jail.