A woman is wanted for allegedly walking out of a Lakeland liquor store with two bottles of specialty cocktail syrup without paying, and Polk County deputies are now asking the public to help put a name to her face. The theft happened at Jay's Liquor at 2620 US Highway 92 East on July 25 at around 5:45 pm, according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office.
The sheriff's office, under Sheriff Grady Judd, says the woman is accused of taking one bottle of Filthy Black Cherry syrup and one bottle of simple syrup from the store. In a post from the Polk County Sheriff, deputies shared a photo of the suspect and asked anyone who recognizes her to come forward. The case has been logged as PCSO Case 26-30774.
CRIME: LIQUOR THEFT
— Polk County Sheriff 🚔 Grady Judd (@PolkCoSheriff) August 20, 2026
CRIME SCENE: JAY'S LIQUOR IN LAKELAND
POLK COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE CASE 26-30774
On July 25, 2026 at around 5:45 pm, a retail theft occurred at Jay's Liquor at 2620 US 92 East in Lakeland.
The suspect is the woman pictured here.
She is alleged to have… pic.twitter.com/driAETYNnR
Filthy Black Cherry syrup is a premium cocktail garnish made from wild Italian Amarena cherries, and it typically retails for somewhere between $10 and $25 per bottle depending on the size of the container, according to Filthy Food, the company that makes it. Paired with a bottle of simple syrup, the combined haul likely falls well under the $100 threshold that separates minor and major theft charges under Florida law.
A Low-Dollar Case Gets a High-Profile Push
Even though the alleged theft involves a relatively small dollar amount, the sheriff's office is treating it with the same public-facing approach it applies to larger retail crime cases. Jay's Liquor sits along a busy stretch of East Lakeland near the Combee Settlement area, in a building that once housed a Blockbuster Video before it was converted into a liquor store, per a local Facebook group post.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Mathis at 863-499-2400 or by email at [email protected]. Tipsters who want to remain anonymous can instead reach out to Heartland Crime Stoppers, which serves Polk, Highlands, and Hardee counties and offers cash rewards of up to $3,000 for information leading to an arrest, according to the sheriff's office. Tips can be submitted through the P3 Tips mobile app, by dialing **TIPS from a cell phone, by calling 1-888-400-TIPS (8477), or through heartlandcrimestoppers.com.
Why Even Small Thefts Draw Sheriff's Attention
Under Florida Statute 812.014, stealing property valued under $100 is generally classified as second-degree petit theft, a second-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to 60 days in county jail and a $500 fine, according to Erase The Case. But that penalty can escalate dramatically depending on a suspect's history. An individual with two or more prior theft convictions who commits petit theft faces an automatic bump to a third-degree felony, carrying up to five years in state prison and a $5,000 fine regardless of how little the stolen items were worth, per the Drew Fritsch Law Firm.
Florida also gave prosecutors more room to build bigger cases out of smaller ones. House Bill 549, which took effect on October 1, 2024, extended the window for aggregating multiple retail thefts from 30 days to 120 days, giving prosecutors broader authority to combine separate petit thefts into felony charges, according to the Florida Senate. It is not yet known whether the Lakeland suspect has any prior theft record or ties to other incidents, and the sheriff's office has not said whether investigators are looking into that possibility.
Part of a Broader Retail Crime Push
Sheriff Judd has repeatedly used public advisories and social media to highlight retail theft cases in Polk County as part of what the sheriff's office describes as a zero-tolerance approach to retail crime, regardless of the dollar amount involved. That approach has extended to larger operations as well: in April 2023, the Polk County Sheriff's Office co-led a multi-agency operation with state prosecutors that broke up an organized retail theft ring spanning 16 Florida counties and causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in commercial losses, according to My Florida Legal.
Statewide, theft remains one of the most common categories of arrest. Theft ranks as the third most common arrest category across Florida, according to statistics compiled by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and cited by the Law Offices of Scott B. Saul. In June 2025, a statewide organized retail theft blitz resulted in 44 arrests and the recovery of more than $207,000 in stolen merchandise, according to WEAR ABC 3.
This is not the first time this year that Polk County deputies have turned to the public for help identifying a retail theft suspect. Hoodline previously reported on a Davenport Publix appeal in which the sheriff's office also used Heartland Crime Stoppers to seek tips on a separate retail crime case. For now, the identity of the woman accused in the Jay's Liquor theft remains unknown, and the sheriff's office is relying on the public to help close the case.
