'Completely naked' Florida man barges into church thrift shop and steals T-shirt, deputies say
Michael Da Costa (Photo: Marion County Sheriffs Office)
OCALA, Fla. - A Florida man has found himself behind bars after he allegedly dashed into a church thrift store while naked and stole a T-shirt.
Michael Da Costa, 38, was arrested and charged with retail theft and indecent exposure after the incident that unfolded at Wings of Faith Thrift Store in Ocala last Wednesday, according to an arrest affidavit from the Marion County Sheriff's Office. According to the thrift shop's website, the ministry offers low prices and donations to needy people and profits are used to assist various mission projects.
Deputies responded to the church thrift store after several people flagged law enforcement down to report there was a "naked man running around everywhere," the affidavit said. Witnesses said he was wearing glasses and had a pair of blue shorts with him, and deputies were able to find a man, identified as Da Costa, who matched this description about a mile away from the store.
Da Costa told deputies that "he ran away from somewhere naked and went to the thrift store to gather some clothes," the affidavit said. He allegedly entered the store "fully nude" and a clerk at the thrift shop gave him a pair of shorts and told him to leave, but he wound up stealing a T-shirt on his way out – still "completely naked."
"(Da Costa) made no effort to cover his genitalia while in the store and was acting erratic," the clerk told deputies, adding that she wished to pursue criminal charges for the exposure of sexual organs. The store manager also wanted criminal charges for retail theft of the T-shirt, which was valued at $5.
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Da Costa was transported to the Marion County Jail, where he remains on $6,000 bond. A third charge was added for a probation violation of a domestic violence injunction, arrest records show.