A Walmart shopper who spit all over fruit bins told cops she didn’t have COVID-19
An eagle-eyed Walmart staffer in Central Florida caught a shopper spitting on food on Wednesday evening and quickly got cops involved.
According to a police report from the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office, an asset protection manager at a store in Holly Hill was processing an online order when she witnessed something not only disgusting and unhygienic, but completely against CDC guidelines.
The complaint says the staffer saw a woman later identified as Lisette Santis open a package of guava, take a bite, then spit a chewed-up piece into her hand. Then Santis reportedly took another bite of the guava and spat it out in her other hand. In the process, bits of the fruit splattered onto other produce, says the arrest affidavit.
Santis wasn’t done with snacking, the report said. The worker reported seeing her walk over to the oranges and “projectile spat” onto them. When the manager asked the shopper why she was doing this, she answered, “I don’t know, just cause,” the complaint said.
When cops arrived they asked a “smiling and laughing” Santis whether she was aware of the coronavirus and she said she was. The Boynton Beach resident, 40, added that she “didn’t have” the highly contagious disease.
The damage to the fruit was estimated at $350.
Video surveillance footage of the act corroborated the employee’s account, according to law enforcement.
Santis was arrested and charged with recklessly tampering with a product and is being held at the Volusia County Jail on $15,000 bond.
The mug shot from the sheriff’s office shows the suspect smiling, a surgical mask hanging off her chin.
Whether Santis has tested positive for coronavirus was unclear Friday afternoon.
According to the CDC, COVID-19 is generally thought to be spread from person-to-person through respiratory droplets, not through what we eat.
“Currently, there is no evidence to support transmission of COVID-19 associated with food.”
Still, the FDA recommends that you wipe down your groceries once you get them back home.
This story was originally published April 24, 2020 at 5:54 PM.
