CHARGES: THEFT… CONTRIBUTING TO DELINQUENCY OF A MINOR… MORE…
BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2026 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — Three people who share a Boca Raton home are facing felony charges after deputies say a woman cut a $2,500 Sony camera off its security cord at the Best Buy on State Road 7 while a young girl stood in front of her and urged her to hurry.
BocaNewsNow.com has learned that Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Melissa Francesca Stevens, 33, Ginger Jennifer Mitchell, 29, and Bryan Austin Stevens, 31, early Thursday after serving a search warrant around 1 a.m. at a unit on NW 15th Vista. All three face the same list of charges: grand theft, burglary of an occupied structure, use of an anti-shoplifting device, retail theft while distracting a merchant, dealing in stolen property, criminal attempt and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
According to the probable cause affidavit, surveillance cameras caught a beige BMW pulling into the lot around 5 p.m. on Aug. 15. Someone got out, pulled the car’s tag off, tossed it in the trunk and waited. Two women and a child, estimated at 8 to 10 years old, walked straight to the camera section. Investigators say Melissa Stevens pulled something from the girl’s pink backpack and used it to cut the thin rubber cord, while Mitchell watched to make sure no one was looking.
The child kept tapping Stevens to speed her up. The group ran past the registers, and the BMW was waiting at the front door. Gone: a Sony Alpha 7C II body and a Sony FE 24-50mm lens, worth about $3,700 combined. Video later showed Stevens also slipped into an employees-only back room and took a $5 pair of scissors.
Earlier footage from the same day captured the BMW’s temporary tag, which traced back to a 2005 BMW 745Li registered in part to Melissa Stevens. A deputy stopped the car on Sept. 8 near Glades Road and NW 4th Avenue for the expired tag, with Stevens behind the wheel, and investigators matched her to the store video.
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We remind readers that charges filed by law enforcement agencies are allegations and that all criminal defendants are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. We also remind readers that civil court filings are allegations made by the party filing suit. The validity of those allegations will be determined in court. If you are the subject of reporting that you believe is inaccurate, please email us immediately at clarification@bocanewsnow.com.
