By by Lee Weyhrich
For one woman time spent locked up in the Century Florida CVS Pharmacy, is just a prelude of things to come.
Donna Wolfe is suspected of hiding in the store to let an accomplice in after hours. Unfortunately the store was locked up inside and out and she was caught by the Escambia County Florida Sheriff''s Department (ECFSD) five minutes after tripping an alarm in the building.
"We just had somebody hide in the store and when they came out to try to do anything the alarms went off," Store Manager Bob Pitman said. "When the lights went out they tried to steal things. I think she thought that once we closed she could let her partner in from the outside and she could get into the pharmacy and what not."
The pharmacy and other sensitive areas were locked up tight and the quick response by police put a stop to those plans.
"I think they didn't give the police enough credit," Pitman said. "They figured the police wouldn't be there for 30 minutes to an hour, and the police responded in five minutes."
Wolfe and her unnamed male accomplice were taken into custody shortly after being discovered. Ray Simmons, a lieutenant with the Century substation of the ECFSD, was the second officer to the scene.
"When we got there[her accomplice] was on the side of the building and she was inside," Simmons said. "He had all kinds of drug paraphernalia on his person. He had 3 crack pipes and some controlled narcotics."
They were both caught but Wolfe didn't get away empty-handed.
"The only thing she did is shoplift about $40 worth of merchandise," Pitman said.
The merchandise was recovered from the woman's purse.
According to Simmons Wolfe was already on probation and was possibly under the influence.
"It was not very smart," Simmons said. "That's not a smart way to do a burglary. She was so smart she still had merchandise in her purse even though she knew the police were there and she had an opportunity to get rid of it."
The biggest mystery now is where she was hiding.
"I have no idea where she was hiding. With me and one other person checking the aisles before locking up we don't know where she was hiding," Pitman said. " She just kind of trapped herself in the store."
Police checked the store to determine if anyone else had hidden inside.
"We waited on the managers to respond and when they opened up the door we took her into custody and searched the building with a K-9 to make sure there was no one else in there," Simmons said.
"I've been here 10 years and nothing like this has ever happened," Pitman said.
Simmons agreed that he had never witnessed a case like this before either.
Wolfe and her accomplice were both charged with burglary. In addition she was charged with theft and he was charged for the drug paraphernalia.