Left: Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd holding a picture of Kensley Mott; Right: Kensley Mott appears in a booking photo. (Polk County Sheriff’s Office)
A Florida woman’s attempted regifting Christmas presents scheme landed her in trouble with the law because the gifts were never hers in the first place or at any point in time, authorities allege.
Kensley Mott, 33, stands accused of one count each of grand theft and felony petit theft and two counts of burglary of a dwelling, according to a news release issued by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.
Using a Christmas carol theme, the local sheriff mocked the defendant’s physical appearance in her booking photo.
“She’s got a red nose because she was crying at some point in time,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said at a press conference this week. “This is not Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. This is Kinsley, the red-nosed criminal. Locked up. Porch pirate.”
The thefts in question were reported on Monday, according to the sheriff’s office. The incidents allegedly occurred during the early afternoon in the Sun Ridge Village subdivision of Winter Haven, a medium-sized city roughly 50 miles east of Tampa.
Someone reported that a woman followed behind an Amazon truck delivering what Judd called “presents” and immediately stole each package left on the porch in question. The victim also provided investigators with surveillance video that showed a white woman wearing black walking up to the porch, taking the boxes, and then getting into a red truck.
The sheriff identified the vehicle as Mott’s red Ford Ranger pickup truck. The sheriff’s office alleges the detective reviewed the video and passed it along to a crime analyst who tentatively identified the suspected thief.
Law enforcement then discovered the defendant worked at a local pizza parlor and went there to confront her about the allegations.
“I stole them because I’m gonna give them away as presents for Christmas,” Mott said, Judd alleged. “So, how about turning them back to us so we can get them to the owners? She wouldn’t do it. That’s pretty brazen. She would not tell us where the stolen property was.”
The sheriff said law enforcement did not have probable cause to obtain a search warrant for the defendant’s truck or residence and that the investigation is ongoing. He also said the woman initially declined to speak with investigators until still images from the surveillance footage were shown.
“We showed her the picture on the camera from where we stole the property, right?” Judd went on. “And she said, ‘What if it was just someone else who had my face?””
The surveillance footage shows a black-clad, sunglasses-wearing woman walk up to a blue porch, stoop to peer at something off-camera, scoop two packages up under her arms, and then quickly walk away.
“This prolific thief is probably going to spend Christmas behind bars this year,” Judd said in a statement.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
