A Summerfield woman was arrested Sunday after deputies say she stole a vehicle she had previously been accused of stealing in 2024, then ended up at a VA hospital with a half-empty bottle of vodka in her purse.
Julia Anna Bejarano, 41, was arrested Aug. 23 on charges of grand theft of a motor vehicle, DUI, refusal to submit to DUI testing and resisting an officer without violence, according to a Marion County Sheriff’s Office arrest affidavit.
Deputies were initially called after receiving multiple reports of a red Honda sedan traveling in the area of U.S. Highway 301 and Southeast Highway 42. Callers reported that the driver may have been impaired and that the vehicle had front-end damage.
A deputy later found the Honda in the parking lot of the VA hospital on Southeast 165th Mulberry Lane in The Villages. Bejarano was allegedly sitting in the driver’s seat with the vehicle running.
According to the affidavit, the deputy said Bejarano appeared emotional, smelled strongly of alcohol, had bloodshot and watery eyes and was slurring her words. She allegedly refused repeated requests to get out of the vehicle before the deputy removed her and placed her in handcuffs.
While deputies were investigating, another deputy contacted the vehicle’s registered owner at the Dollar General on County Road 25.
The owner told deputies Bejarano did not have a driver’s license and had never been given permission to drive the vehicle. He said he had left Bejarano sitting in the passenger seat while he went inside the store to finish work, leaving the keys in the vehicle so she could use the air conditioning.
Instead, deputies say, she drove off.
The vehicle was valued at approximately $15,000.
The affidavit also states that a records search showed Bejarano had been arrested in November 2024 for allegedly stealing the same vehicle.
Deputies said Bejarano declined to perform field sobriety exercises and was placed under arrest. During a search of her purse, a deputy reported finding a half-empty 375-milliliter bottle of Svedka vodka.
At the Marion County Jail, Bejarano initially agreed to provide a breath sample but later became upset and refused, according to the affidavit. Her bonds were listed at a combined $5,000.
