Marion County deputies say a late-night scrap metal heist at the Florida Highlands Recycling Center didn’t go quite as planned.
According to an arrest affidavit, surveillance cameras caught three suspects slipping through a hole in the fence after hours at the Dunnellon facility, where they allegedly helped themselves to appliances and other metal items worth about $100. One woman, identified as Asherlee Jeannette Armstrong, was spotted pushing a walker loaded with stolen goods while her accomplices passed her additional scrap.
Deputies later linked Armstrong to the scene after recognizing her from the footage and from a previous incident involving a U-Haul full of metal. When questioned, Armstrong reportedly admitted she went along to “help” get one of her co-defendants arrested — a plan that backfired when she was charged herself.
Armstrong, 50, was arrested at her Ocala residence and booked without bond on charges of burglary of an unoccupied structure and petit theft. Records show she’s already on felony probation for a prior theft conviction earlier this year.
