Potato chip-packed van lands pair in jail

MARION COUNTY, Fla. — A man and woman accused of stealing Frito-Lay brand chips were arrested in Marion County Thursday night.

According to Marion County sheriff's investigators, a Frito-Lay driver spotted the van in an industrial area of Ocala around 11:30 p.m. He notified a deputy at a convenience store down the street.

When the deputy saw a young child jumping around the back seat, the deputy stopped the van.

Investigators said the deputy noticed that the van was packed with hundreds of bags of chips from a Frito-Lay distribution center in a warehouse district along northwest 68th Avenue.

"When [the deputy] approached the vehicle, he could see inside. There were potato chips, and Cheetos, and pork rinds all over the van," said Judge Cochran with the Marion County Sheriff's Office.

According to deputies, Darren Hagerman, one of those in the van, said he got the chips from a dumpster behind the Frito-Lay factory, and that he and his sister, Jessica Huggard, took them as a way to make money.

Deputies said the gate to the dumpster was locked. They found that Hagerman had a master key that worked on the gate locks at the factory.

Plant managers think it may have been accidentally left in the lock but they're not sure when.

Other drivers told Channel 9 they've been chasing Hagerman away from the plant for a couple of years but he kept coming.

Hagerman, 25, and Huggard, 22, both of Citra, were taken to the Marion County Jail and face charges of burglary and grand theft, according to investigators.

The child was turned over to a relative.

WFTV