A St. Augustine woman was arrested late last month after deputies said she staged a fake burglary in a botched bid to have her neighbors evicted amid a dispute over marijuana smoke.
According to an arrest report from the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded to multiple complaints from the woman regarding her downstairs neighbors, whom she accused of smoking marijuana inside their apartment.
Deputies advised her on several occasions that law enforcement could not enforce civil lease violations.
On Jan. 26 at approximately 2:53 a.m., the woman called 911 to report that her apartment had been burglarized, papers state.
She initially told dispatchers she returned home to find the residence ransacked.
When deputies arrived, she changed her account, alleging that a neighbor had forced his way into her apartment while she was present, destroyed her doorbell camera, stole property, and smashed items throughout the upturned unit.
Deputies became suspicious after inconsistencies in her statements and contradictory evidence provided by neighbors, including video footage.
When it became clear that deputies weren’t buying her account, she attempted to withdraw her complaint, telling officers to leave.
Eventually, the woman stated that the only way to have her neighbors evicted was if “something like this happened.”
She was arrested and later admitted to staging the burglary, deputies said.
