Officials arrested a man and woman accused of stealing credit cards, social security cards, identifications, checks and mail Tuesday.
A Florida Highway Patrol officer pulled over Christopher Lee Grigsby, 39, of Leesburg, Florida, for driving too close behind a white SUV driving north on Interstate 75 south of exit 382, according to a FHP arrest report.
When the officer went to the car Amber Marie Morreale, 29, of Apopka, Florida, was in the passenger seat, the report said.
Grigsby told the officer his boss rented the car so he didn’t have the rental agreement, the report said. He also said they were headed to Georgia from Leesburg.
The officer saw that he was “extremely nervous and visibly shaking,” wasn’t talkative and did not make eye contact, the report said. When the officer asked Grigsby questions, Morreale would respond.
He then asked them to step out of the vehicle and put them into a patrol car, the report said. He had his police dog, K-9 Ace, sniff the outside of the car for drugs. Ace alerted the officer that some may be inside.
During a search, another officer found a piece of paper with names and social security numbers, a small glass container with crystal meth and a black tote with multiple social security cards, credit cards, identification cards, checks and mail, the report said. Morreale’s and Grigsby’s mail and credit cards were among the items.
Another person’s debit card was found in Grigsby's wallet, the report said. Morreale repeated several times that the items in the tote were hers.
When they were moved to a different patrol car two small vials of meth and loaded syringes were found where Grigsby was seated, the report said.
Police checked their names and found an active warrant for Morreale from Lake County for fraud, the report said.
Morreale and Grigsby were charged with possession of counterfeit credit cards, identification of another person without their consent, counterfeit checks, tools for forgery, cannabis and having controlled substances without a prescription.
Morreale was found guilty of grand theft in 2018, according to Lake County court records. Grigsby was found guilty of grand theft in 2017 and of petit theft, armed robbery and burglary of a conveyance in 1997.
They were in the Alachua County Jail Wednesday in lieu of an about $1.8 million bond each.
Grigsby
Morreale
