Charlotte County Sheriff's deputies say a man stole six DVDs from a Punta Gorda Wal-Mart at 3:51 p.m. Thursday, escaped security and fled in a car only to return later, crash the car and flee on foot, then return to the scene once again this time clean shaven where he was Tased, arrested, and taken to jail.
Eric Vinson Seifferlein, 34, 2291 Picnic St., Port Charlotte, and Punta Gorda girlfriend, Tiffany Lynn Dawson, 25, 6118 Golf Course Blvd., face several charges after the odd odyssey.
Seifferlein was charged with battery on an officer, resisting an officer with violence, petty theft, driving on suspeended license, leaving the scene of a crash and two counts of resisting an officer by disguise. He remains in jail on no bond.
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Eric Vinson Seifferlein
Dawson was charged with battery on an officer, resisting an officer with violence and resisting an officer without violence. She also remains in jail on no bond.
Wal-Mart security told deputies the DVD thief had a full beard and tattoos when drove off in a white Saturn. Security later called deputies back and said the man in the Saturn drove back into the parking lot and smashed into an 84-year-old woman's car, then fled on foot. When deputies arrived, Dawson was standing outside the Saturn.
A few minutes later, Seifferlein walked into the Wal-Mart parking lot from the Pilot gas station across the street on Jones Loop Road. He gave his name to deputies and said he was checking on his girlfriend. Seifferlein shaved his beard, ditched the hat and T-shirt at the gas station thinking no one would recognize him. Pilot employees saw him come in with a beard and exit from the restroom without it. However, security and the lady whose car was hit identified Seifferlein. The hat and T-shirt were recovered at the gas station.
