Deputies: Employee with Crack Cocaine Stole from Organic Living Center
Lisa Ann Perry, 45, of Dunedin, is accused of forgery and stealing money from her employer at Organic Living Center in Dunedin, Pinellas County Sheriff's records indicate.
An employee accused of stealing money and forging checks from Organic Living Garden Center was found Dec. 1 with crack cocaine, authorities report.
Lisa Ann Perry, 45, who lives on the 500 block of Patricia Avenue, is alleged to have taken $65 from the cash register, $45 from the safe box at the small Dunedin organic nursery and gardening solutions center. She is also accused of forging a business check in the amount of $50, Pinellas County Sheriff's arrest records state.
Deputies stopped Perry at a single-family home on Sunset Point Road in Clearwater on Dec. 1 around 5:30 p.m.
Pinellas Sheriff's deputies found a baggie of crack cocaine weighing less than a gram on top of her cigarettes. She admitted to purchasing the substance for $10 just before being stopped by deputies, according to arrest records. Deputies also found a glass pipe with burnt edges in her bag that she admitted she used to smoke crack.
She also admitted to forging the $50 check, dated Nov. 29, in owner Jai Hambly's name and said she planned to cash it later, arrest records indicate.
Hambly, a passionate organic gardener, started her Organic Living business in Clearwater in 2009, before moving to 601 Patricia Avenue in Dunedin in early 2012.
The garden center offers a wide range of products and services, including plants and gardening products.
Perry is charged with felony counts of uttering a forged instrument, possession of a controlled substance, and theft of property by an employee. She is charged also with misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.
Perry is in custody at Pinellas County Jail, awaiting trial, on $4,650 in bond.
Diana Richardson
8:16 am on Saturday, December 8, 2012
Wow great reporting? Do we really need to stoop to this? Can we just report real news that affects us? Did we need to plaster a drug-addicts face on the internet who has an obvious sad life and addiction problem? What benefit does anyone get from reading this? Real reporting would be a story about drug dealers being arrested, you know, the people who profit from selling drugs? This type of reporting is pathetic. Where is our civility as a society?
June Kovac
11:01 am on Saturday, December 8, 2012
I look at it a different way. Obviously,the business owner hired this employee in good faith(maybe she knew of her past history and was giving her a second chance?). But this individual chose to disrespect her and stab her in the back by stealing from her. That's gratitude for you. Now,maybe the businmess owner will do a more thorough background check on future hires. I think this type of issue is informative for business owners.
Jill Gatto
9:18 am on Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Yes, June, we knew Lisa had a past and was in recovery. She was clean for over a year and wanted to create a new life in organics. It's sad how drugs can destroy lives. -Jill and Jai Organic Living Garden Center
Maggy Graham
11:10 am on Saturday, December 8, 2012
That's what happens when you commit crimes. You face the consequences of public humiliation. Everyone has a choice. A thief makes other people's lives miserable. A person who steals and forges checks drains the bank accounts not only of businesses, but vulnerable family members like the elderly. They are predators. They are abusers. They leave a path of destruction at great cost of time and money to those who must step in and recover a person's life who has been ripped off. Hopefully these crimes are discovered before too much damage is done, before people's lives are destroyed. Chances are excellent that this person has been given many second chances, because that is our nature, to want to help. At some point, criminals have to face the music, and others need to know who not to trust, for everyone's protection.
Karen Burton
12:29 pm on Saturday, December 8, 2012
The Dunedin "drug belt" seems to be Sunset Pt. Rd. at Betty Lane, north to Main St. via Milwaukee Ave.. Shame it is "hands off" as far as getting the drug dealers. The powers that be don't want to invest the time and money. You can expect a lot more thefts in the area as a result of this inaction. Lock your doors.
Concerned
9:12 am on Sunday, December 9, 2012
Karen,
You hit the nail on the head. When we had our big meeting it came right out of the sheriff's mouth that they would use the small guys to get the big guys, well Mr.Sheriff we the neighbor's want you to get rid of these small guys too they are a nuisance in our neigborhood's. Its time for this to end. Just because we do not live where you do doesn't make this ok and it isn't right we do not care who your informants are we do not want the "little guys" on our streets anymore and sir if you do not get them off our streets we will go to the DEA and or the FDLE! DO YOUR JOBS. Enough is enough
Karen Burton
1:14 pm on Monday, December 10, 2012
BRAVO, CONCERNED!!!!! If only this was happening in their neighborhood, like you said.
Lori
2:48 pm on Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Concerned and Karen...Right on board with you....