POLK COUNTY, Fla. — A Polk County sheriff’s deputy is off the job after investigators said he stole a DVD while responding to a robbery.
Just after 2 a.m. on Nov. 6, Deputy Ernesto McCloud, of Lakeland, was providing backup to an alarm call at the Mystic convenience store on US Highway 17-92.
Reports said McCloud was the first deputy on scene and was told by Davenport police that someone had robbed the store.
Davenport police obtained surveillance video from the store which they said showed McCloud swipe a DVD from behind the counter, hide it behind a notepad and then stuff it in his uniform.
McCloud told his fellow deputies he took the DVD because he, “had never seen it before.”
McCloud was arrested and resigned from the agency.
“This behavior is atrocious and will not be tolerated by our agency. We are all disgusted by his behavior and he is now in jail where he belongs,” said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd. “Ernesto McCloud said it best himself - he threw away a career for a $10 DVD.”
McCloud was charged with armed burglary since he was in uniform and carrying his weapon.
He was also charged with petit theft.
McCloud was taken to the Polk County Jail without incident.
WFTV
