Investigator: Jameis Winston avoided store security
Florida State star quarterback Jameis Winston appeared to avoid deputies when he walked out of the Ocala Road Publix on Tuesday.
A Leon County Sheriff's Office deputy said Winston ordered three pounds of steamed crab legs with Old Bay seasoning and one pound of steamed crawfish with Cajun seasoning and then left the store, according to the incident report released this afternoon.
The deputy, who wrote the report based on viewing the Publix surveillance video, then said Winston then came back in the store, collected his seafood and went to the dairy aisle and picked up a package of butter.
As he was leaving the store, Winston appeared to pause in front of a Leon County deputy who was working in-store security detail at the time. The pause, the incident report said, appeared to be an attempt to avoid walking in front of the deputy. He said Winston then walked behind the deputy, past all registers and out of the store.
A Publix employee told deputies he noticed Winston walk out of the store and assumed he hadn't paid for his purchase since he didn't have a grocery bag. He and his manager watched Winston walk out of the store because they thought he was grabbing a shopping cart. They soon realized Winston walked out without paying when he didn't return.
The seafood clerk who took Winston's order said the Heisman-winner regularly visits the store and that he gave Winston a bar code price tag on the seafood before he left the counter, the incident report said.
The cost of the crab legs, crawfish and butter is valued at $32.72, the price the sheriff's office said he took. Winston, however, contends he did not steal the butter, the report said. He told deputies he left it in a bin before he left the store because he realized he did not need it.
The investigating deputy went back to Publix and looked in the bins where Winston said he put the butter, but none was found.
Winston completed his 20 hours of community service on Sunday afternoon and was reinstated back onto the baseball team following a suspension.
