South Florida woman on multi-state crime spree arrested for trying to steal items from Tractor Supply and attacking employees

Staff report

HIGH SPRINGS, Fla. – Fredshawn Maquell Jeanbaptiste, 28, of Homestead, was arrested yesterday after allegedly trying to exchange stolen items at the Tractor Supply in High Springs and then attacking employees who tried to recover the items. She has also been arrested in South Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Sarasota County in 2025.

The responding High Springs Police Department officer reported that at about 10:56 a.m. on November 14, Jeanbaptiste entered Tractor Supply (20460 N. U.S. Hwy 441) with a large, empty bag. She spent about 10 minutes in the store, placing items in her bag and shopping cart, and then she went to the service counter and said she wanted to exchange the items in her shopping cart (worth $644), which she said she had previously purchased from the store, for three higher-priced items worth $636.

When an employee asked for a receipt, Jeanbaptiste reportedly said she didn’t have one; the employee asked for her rewards number to check her account, and Jeanbaptiste reportedly could not provide one. When an employee said Jeanbaptiste had not brought the items into the store and that he would show her surveillance video proving that, Jeanbaptiste reportedly viewed the surveillance video and then began “yelling and screaming all throughout the store and making a scene, as well as disrupting the business and visibly frightening staff and customers.”

Jeanbaptiste reportedly went back to the service counter and demanded that employees give her back the items she had wanted to exchange, still yelling and screaming. When the employees said again that she had not brought those items into the store, Jeanbaptiste allegedly started grabbing the items while employees tried to take them back out of her hands. Jeanbaptiste allegedly managed to get multiple items into her shopping cart and then tried to push the cart out of the store; when a manager tried to stop her from leaving, Jeanbaptiste allegedly pushed the manager and forced her way out of the store.

Jeanbaptiste reportedly left before officers arrived, but she was pulled over near the store, and officers reportedly found the stolen items in her vehicle.

Jeanbaptiste, whose address is listed in Homestead, has been charged with robbery by sudden snatching, simple battery, petit theft, and resisting detention by a merchant. Her full criminal history is unavailable, but she has several other arrests this year:

• April 16, 2025 in South Carolina for shoplifting;
• July 2, 2025 in Sarasota County for driving without a valid license;
• August 7, 2025 in Pennsylvania for terroristic threats.

Judge Kristine Van Vorst set bail at $90,000.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.