FORT PIERCE, Fla. — A woman decided to go to jail rather than pay her bill at a Fort Pierce Waffle House restaurant. The total she went to jail over: $7.45. According to a police report, Maryanne O'Neill, 66, ordered coffee and a sandwich at a Waffle House restaurant on Saturday, but refused to pay the bill.

The report said an officer asked her to pay or go to jail and she refused.

A jail official said she was released Monday from the St. Lucie County Jail. She was charged with obtaining food or lodging with intent to defraud, a second-degree misdemeanor.

If convicted of a second-degree misdemeanor, she could face up to 60 days in jail and a fine of $500.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Authorities said a man tried to steal several bags of frozen shrimp from a supermarket by hiding them down his pants. The Manatee County Sheriff's Office reported that an off-duty detective was shopping at a Sweetbay supermarket Sunday when he noticed what appeared to be a man with groceries stuffed in his pants.

The detective approached the 32-year-old man and ordered him to stop. Authorities said the man then removed several bags of shrimp from his pants and promised to put them back.

When the man fled for the store's exit, the detective tackled and restrained him until patrol deputies arrived.

The man was charged with shoplifting, battery on an officer and resisting arrest. He was being held on $2,600 bail.

MIAMI — A Florida Highway Patrol trooper based in South Florida has been arrested on charges of official misconduct, after authorities said he wrote hundreds of fake citations to drivers. Paul C. Lawrence was accused of trying to increase the number of citations he issued by writing bogus tickets. More than 200 traffic tickets he issued since November have been dismissed, and there may be more.

Authorities grew suspicious when the ticketed motorists began complaining they knew nothing about the citations. Prosecutors said Lawrence had used information from drivers he previously stopped to draft new tickets.

A spokesman for the FHP said they don't operate on a quota system.

Lawrence could not be reached for comment.

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