Deputies: Woman robs Ormond Beach Publix after rent dispute

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — A woman who robbed an Ormond Beach-area Publix on Friday morning was arrested after she had a dispute with her landlord because she was behind on rent, deputies said.

Deputies said they arrested Kayla Kangas, 28, after she was seen on video surveillance robbing a Publix on Ocean Shore Boulevard.

At the time of the robbery, a deputy was being dispatched to the home Kangas was renting in Ormond-by-the-Sea to handle a dispute between a landlord and two tenants who were behind on their rent, deputies said.

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The landlord said one of the tenants was Kangas and he asked the deputy to speak with her.

When the deputy went to speak with Kangas, she was gone, deputies said.

While the deputy was still talking to the landlord, dispatchers said there was a robbery happening at Publix and the deputy left to respond to it.

A Publix employee at the customer service desk said a woman in her 20s approached the counter, passed a note demanding money, took the cash and left.

Deputies did not say how much money Kangas stole from the Publix.

Deputies began searching for the suspect and the deputy who went to Kangas’ home called the landlord and asked if she returned, deputies said.

The landlord told the deputy that Kangas had come back in a hurry almost immediately after the deputy left and that she picked up her boyfriend and left “like a bat out of hell.”

Deputies later located Kangas driving on Ocean Shore Boulevard and conducted a traffic stop.

Kangas was charged with robbery and grand theft. She was transported to the Volusia County Branch Jail, where she is being held on $10,000 bail.

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