By JOE SEELIG


SEBRING — An off-duty Highlands County sheriff’s detention deputy said he happened to be in the right place at the right time about 5 p.m. Monday, to assist with an arrest of two burglary suspects.

Two teenagers were in the care of the department of children and families on Friday after they were charged in connection with a theft from the Radio Shack store at the Lakeshore Mall.

According to the arrest report, two teens, a male and a female, entered the Radio Shack store, located at the Sebring mall, but shopping may not have been on their minds.

While the male engaged employees with questions about cell phones, the female reportedly entered a private office and removed a black and pink purse belonging to an employee and exited the store, heading into Kmart, the report states.

Both teens went into the handicap stall in the Kmart men’s bathroom, where they emptied a wallet and the victim’s keys, stuffing the purse into a garbage can, the report states.

The pair then went to the parking lot and were able to locate the victim’s Dodge Neon, using a keyless entry system attached to the key chain. They began going through the victim’s trunk. The girl acted as lookout, the report stated.

Meanwhile, sheriff’s detention deputy Shon Abeln was parking his car, several spaces away. He was in his street clothes. He walked past the pair going through the car’s trunk and overheard the girl say, “Did you find your keys yet,” Abeln said. The boy replied “No.”

Abeln walked toward the mall entrance near the Kmart garden center.

“I stepped up onto the curb at the garden shop,” said Abeln. “And then the owner of the car came out.”

She saw the teens rummaging through the trunk and began to run toward her car, he said, pushing the boy.

Abeln thought at first it could be a domestic thing, but began to walk toward the scene. The boy and girl walked off.

Abeln was distracted briefly, then looked up.

“They started running toward Outback Steak House,” he said. “I hopped back into my truck and drove across the parking lot.”

He could see the pair standing at U.S. 27, waiting to cross. He turned north but had to turn around. He saw the two heading through the Knights of Columbus property.

Abeln spotted the pair walking along the beach on Lake Jackson.

“He took off his black tank-top and the girl turned her shirt inside out,” Abeln said. “They were trying to change their appearance a little bit.”

When they spotted Abeln the pair bolted into a wooded lot. Sheriff’s deputy Chris Gunter arrived with his K-9 partner Wyatt, and tracked the pair from the beach and into the lot as other deputies and Sebring Police officers arrived to assist.

Arrested were Philip Lee Hill, 17, of Frostproof and Sarah Elise Young, 15, of Sebring, each charged with burglary of a structure or conveyance, petty theft and tampering with physical evidence.

Young was additionally charged with violation of probation or community control on an undisclosed charge.

The victim’s purse, credit cards and driver’s license were recovered from the trash can.

The victim could not be reached for comment.