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Man accused of stealing $1,500 in quarters

He was arrested after trying to cash some of them in at a grocery store, police say.

By MICHAEL KRUSE
Published October 27, 2005

SPRING HILL - Michael Ray Ross, authorities say, stole $1,500 the heavy way - in quarters.

The 25-year-old from Spring Hill is accused of stealing the money from his girlfriend's grandfather's closet.

On Tuesday afternoon, he attempted to cash in more than $600 of those quarters at a local Kash n' Karry grocery store, according to a Hernando County Sheriff's report, and was arrested after he began "acting suspiciously."

The report says he lives at 11392 Beachdale Ave., but that's not true, says the woman who does - and who received Ross's one call from the Hernando County Jail on Tuesday night about 6.

Aprille Russo is the mother of a girl Ross got pregnant six years ago. Ross is the father of her 5-year-old granddaughter. Russo said Tuesday she doesn't want anything to do with Ross.

"He's been booted out of my daughter's life," she said, "because he's such a loser."

She said he's never paid child support.

"Not a dime," she said. "He's never wiped a diaper. He's never done nothin'.

"But quarters," she added, "is a new thing."

Ross has "THUG LIFE" tattooed across the front of his fingers, according to the arrest report. He has no previous criminal record in Hernando County, records show, but he admitted to deputies on Tuesday that he had taken the quarters from the grandfather of his girlfriend. He knew the man kept lots of coins in his closet.

He did it on two separate occasions in the last month, Ross told deputies.

The first time, he said, he stole about $900 worth of the quarters and cashed them in.

The second time, he said, he brought the remaining $600 to the Kash n' Karry at Mariner and Northcliffe boulevards.

Ross is due in court Nov. 29.

He was being held on Wednesday in jail on $2,000 bail.

"Mike needs to get some serious help," Russo said.

Michael Kruse can be reached at mkruse@sptimes.com or 352 848-1434.

[Last modified October 27, 2005, 01:28:19]