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Deputies Say Pair Stole, Spent

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By VALERIE KALFRIN

vkalfrin@tampatrib.com

Published: January 25, 2009

TAMPA - A man and a woman from Jacksonville stole credit cards from five Carrollwood shoppers at stores Friday for their own daylong spending spree, deputies said.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office arrested Gabriel Edwards, 28, and Erica Hudgens, 42, outside a Publix supermarket about 5:40 p.m. Friday, hours after a woman there reported being robbed, records show.

Both were being held Saturday at Orient Road Jail. Bail for Hudgens was set at $18,000 and for Edwards at $16,500.

About 2 p.m., a woman who reported that her wallet was stolen at a Publix at 15151 N. Dale Mabry Highway told deputies that when she called to cancel her credit cards, she learned they already had been used. One registered a charge of $331.67 at a GameStop at 15217 N. Dale Mabry, and there was $428.25 charged to the other card at a CVS drugstore, authorities' affidavits say.

Deputies checked store security video from the Game- Stop and say they saw a man, later identified as Edwards, making the purchase the woman reported. They also saw him leave on the video in a black GMC Envoy with Florida license tags.

About 5:40 p.m., deputies spotted a GMC Envoy matching the description from the GameStop video in the shopping plaza at 15151 N. Dale Mabry Highway, affidavits say.

Deputies pulled over the GMC and found Edwards and Hudgens with the five victims' belongings, affidavits say. They also found two laptops bought at a Wal-Mart that afternoon, with one of the stolen credit cards, deputies say.

Hudgens denied any wrongdoing, but Edwards told deputies Hudgens stole the wallets and gave him the credit cards for purchases, authorities' affidavits say.

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