Zephyrhills bottled water thief gets probation, big bill

DADE CITY — When pallets of water went missing at the Zephyrhills bottled water plant in the summer of 2008, employees set up an honest-to-goodness sting.

One man dressed in all black so he could sneak through the warehouse undetected. Another logged on to her computer at home and watched in real time as pallets of water were scanned one by one and loaded on a truck.

But when police followed the truck out into the darkness on Sept. 6, 2008, there was no paying customer at the other end. The sting netted two suspects: truck driver Obed Almaguer-Guerrido and warehouse worker Michael Fernandes.

The company learned of the thefts when a distributor spotted a Citgo station selling six-packs of Zephyrhills water for $1 — less than wholesale.

Fernandes later admitted to authorities that he helped Almaguer-Guerrido steal five truckloads of bottled water and got a $500 cut each time.

Fernandes, a 28-year-old married father of three with no prior criminal record, went to trial Wednesday on grand theft charges.

There was no jury, just Circuit Judge Pat Siracusa deciding his guilt. It was never really in doubt. Fernandes' public defender told the judge his client was guilty, but not of stealing the amount the prosecutor alleged.

After it came to light that five loads of water had been taken, the water company did some more investigating and determined the take was more like 15 loads.

Assistant State Attorney Michael Mervine said this totaled more than $100,000 in theft.

Fernandes, who took the stand, said the amount was more like $12,000. He talked about "ghost bins" used to account for pallets of water that didn't line up with the computerized inventory system, which he said was always on the fritz. He also provided a video attempting to show that it would be impossible to load up a semitrailer with as many pallets as authorities said he took.

In the end, Fernandes was found guilty. The judge came down somewhere in the middle on what he owed: $41,302.06.

He has 10 years of probation to pay it back.

Almaguer-Guerrido, who was convicted in Hillsborough County of dealing in stolen property, had to pay back $300.

Molly Moorhead can be reached at moorhead@sptimes.com or (727) 869-6245.