Police say couple stole more than $6,000 from dead woman
A woman and her boyfriend were arrested Wednesday after Gainesville Police said the couple cashed in on a dead woman’s checkbooks.
On Dec. 28, Lakisha Salane Bryant, 33, made a $200 withdrawal at the Bank of America on Northwest 13th Street, according to a police report.
By late January, Bryant and her boyfriend, Derick Bryan Sawyer, 38, took $6,600 as she forged the signature of a woman she cared for as a home aid, according to the report. Bryant and Sawyer cashed in a total of 33 checks, each for $200. Hazel Jones Cuddeback, the woman whose checkbook police would later find in Bryant’s purse, passed away in November at the age of 94, according to the report.
When police found Bryant on Wednesday, she told them Cuddeback would want to take care of her, and what she did was not a crime, according to the report.
Cuddeback’s daughter eventually received a fraud alert, according to the report.
Police arrested Bryant and Sawyer on charges of grand theft, fraud and uttering a forged instrument. Bryant was also charged with forgery. Authorities took the two to the Alachua County Jail where Bryant was released on her own recognizance Thursday, and where Sawyer remains, as of press time, in lieu of a $42,000 bond.
Gainesville man bites Wal-Mart worker, police say
Gainesville Police arrested a man Wednesday morning after they said he bit a Wal-Mart employee in late January.
At about noon on Jan. 28, Hykeem Dabreon Johnson, 27, tried to steal from the Wal-Mart on Northwest 23rd Street and later fought with an employee, according to a police report.
Wal-Mart employees told police they saw Johnson enter the store, pick up two $60 boxes of hair clippers and walk to customer service, according to the report.
Although Johnson never paid for either box, he told employees at customer service he wanted to exchange one for the other, according to the report. Johnson completed his exchange and walked outside, where employees then asked him to go to Wal-Mart’s loss-prevention office, according to the report.
When he refused, one of the employees grabbed his wrist while the other held him from behind, according to the report.
Johnson and one of the employees then fell to the ground as they fought, and Johnson bit the employee’s left hand before running away, according to the report.
Police found Johnson on Wednesday at about 10 a.m. and arrested him on charges of resisting merchant detainment and simple battery. Authorities took him to the Alachua County Jail where, as of press time, he remains in lieu of a $5,000 bond.
