{"id":61599,"date":"2025-11-26T15:27:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T15:27:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/61599\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T15:27:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T15:27:07","slug":"repeat-theft-offender-with-six-active-warrants-arrested","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/61599\/","title":{"rendered":"Repeat Theft Offender With Six Active Warrants Arrested"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/News-Release-Header-NEW-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1640\" height=\"450\" title=\"\" role=\"img\"\/><\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday, November 5, 2025, at approximately 4:39 p.m., the Cape Coral Police Department responded to a reported retail theft at the Target store located at 1890 NE Pine Island Road in Cape Coral, Florida. A store loss prevention associate reported that a woman known as Melissa Ann Chase (DOB 09\/15\/1987), a repeat retail theft offender, entered the store and committed a theft. Chase was identified by her distinct blue and purple hair and multiple tattoos on her face, torso, and right arm.<\/p>\n<p>Chase reportedly selected 2 lbs. of strawberries valued at $6.99, beef hide chews valued at $10.49, and New Freshness Bacterial Vaginosis Gel valued at $26.99. She then removed a barcode from a travel item priced at $0.99 and used it at self-checkout, scanning it three times and paying only $2.97, causing a loss of $41.50 to the store. After the transaction, she passed all points of sale without paying the correct amount, ignored the loss prevention associate\u2019s attempt to stop her, and fled in a white SUV. Probable cause was established for retail theft, with the offense enhanced based on prior theft convictions.<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, November 25, 2025, at approximately 7:20 a.m., a Cape Coral Police Department officer observed Chase leaving a residence on NW 21st Street. Chase was detained and identified, and a records check confirmed she had six active felony warrants for burglary of a dwelling, dealing in stolen property with grand theft, and multiple counts of petit theft, including a charge involving three or more prior theft convictions. All warrants were confirmed, and Chase was arrested and taken to the Lee County Jail on the following charges:<\/p>\n<p>Theft of merchandise with prior theft convictions, charged under Florida Statute 812.014(3)(c) (theft with two or more prior theft convictions)Warrant for Burglary of a dwelling: Felony burglary charge under Chapter 810, Florida Statutes (commonly charged under F.S. 810.02).Warrant for Dealing in stolen property: Felony trafficking in stolen goods, charged under Florida Statute 812.019.Warrant for Grand theft $750 or more: Felony theft of property valued at or above the statutory felony threshold, charged under Florida Statute 812.014(2).Three Warrants for Multiple counts of petit theft (including \u201cthree or more\u201d): Repeated petit theft offenses enhanced to felony level due to prior theft convictions, charged under Florida Statute 812.014(3)(c).<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/NR-Mugshot-Template-34.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1640\" height=\"450\" title=\"\" role=\"img\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Wednesday, November 5, 2025, at approximately 4:39 p.m., the Cape Coral Police Department responded to a reported&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61600,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-61599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}