Woman Arrested For Non-Payment Of Long Cab Ride

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DeLand, FL - An over two-hour trip in a taxicab ends with a homeless woman behind bars after she didn't pay for the ride.

25-year-old Megan N. Robert was arrested late Monday morning near the Publix on East International Speedway Boulevard in DeLand.

The DeLand Police Department says Robert got into a Primo Taxi vehicle from a Dollar Tree on South Woodland Boulevard and spent the next two and a half hours being driven around in that vehicle to several other locations before the taxi driver took her to the Publix.

According to the arrest report, Robert tried several times to pull money from her debit card at the Publix to pay for the ride but wasn't able to get any.

The taxi driver and store management both called for law enforcement to show up at that point, the former for non-payment and the latter because they considered Robert suspicious, per the report.

The taxi driver also told DeLand PD that Robert's card declined when she tried to charge it and that she drove Robert around to several automated teller machines in hopes of getting the cash.

Officers found Robert in the store trying to get cash from customer service, which she was also unable to do.

Robert has since bonded out of Volusia County Jail on a petit theft charge.

VCJ records show Robert's been booked there 13 times since 2014, including two times this year for trespassing, introducing contraband to a prison and giving officers a fake name during arrest.