Cops: Woman Spit On Fruit At Walmart

APRIL 23--A woman was arrested last night after allegedly spitting into produce bins at a Walmart in Florida, according to cops who said the suspect denied having the coronavirus.

As detailed in a charging affidavit, Lisette Santis, 40, is facing a felony charge of recklessly tampering with a product in connection with her actions Wednesday evening at a Walmart in Holly Hill, a city outside Daytona Beach.

After Santis, seen at right, was booked into the county jail, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement filed a detainer seeking the Guatemala native’s expulsion from the country. An ICE notice indicates that a “final order of removal against the alien” had previously been lodged against Santis.

A Walmart employee told cops she was working in the store’s produce section Wednesday night when she spotted Santis opening a sealed package of guava, from which she placed pieces of fruit in her mouth. At one point, as Santis “spit the fruit out of her mouth, pieces of the fruit and spit got onto” a display of limes. She also allegedly left one of the guava pieces from her mouth in the lime bin.

Santis, the Walmart worker told police, then walked to another area of the produce section and “projectile spat onto the oranges” and dropped another piece of guava into the fruit bin.

Police said that about $347 worth of limes and oranges had to immediately be thrown out, while Walmart employees were determining “if any further produce would have to be disposed of from this incident.”

Jennifer Tombert, the Walmart worker, said that she “could not believe what she had witnessed” and immediately confronted Santis. Tombert recalled that when she asked Santis why she spit on the fruit, the suspect replied, “I don’t know, just cause.”

During subsequent police questioning, Santis said she was aware of the COVID-19 pandemic, and declared, “I don’t have it.” Cops noted that Santis was “smiling, making small laughs and did not show any signs of remorse for what she did.”

Police credited Tombert for her quick reaction to the spitting, which avoided “mass hysteria and further eruption from the other customers inside the business.”

Along with itemized receipts for the damaged produce, cops placed “photographs of the bitten guava fruit” into evidence. (2 pages)