LAKELAND — A 26-year-old woman has been charged with stealing a boy's iPod from a Publix in South Lakeland.

Nancy Carrizal of Lakeland was charged with petty theft and tampering with evidence — the latter of which is a third-degree felony, the Polk County Sheriff's Office reported.

On Dec. 17, Anthony Benash, 10, placed his iPod, valued at $250, on the counter at the Shepherd Road Publix while his mother was checking out. Anthony walked over to the scales to weigh himself.

When he returned to the counter, the iPod was missing.

Anthony asked the woman behind him in line if she saw it, but she told the boy no.

When they returned home, the boy's father called the Polk County Sheriff's Office. Detectives reviewed the store's surveillance video, which showed the customer who was in line behind the boy grabbing the iPod. It was the same woman Anthony had asked about the iPod, the PCSO said.

The video was posted on the PCSO's Facebook page Dec. 30. Numerous tips were received that the woman was Carrizal.

When detectives contacted Carrizal, she confirmed she was the person seen in the video. She told detectives she made a mistake and thought it was her phone.

"She said the iPod was dead and was sitting in her junk drawer, that she'd been sick, and that was she planning on contacting law enforcement after the holidays when she felt better," a Sheriff's Office news release stated.

When detectives received the iPod, they turned it on and saw that its previous contents had been erased and had been reset to its original factory settings on or around Dec. 18.

John Chambliss can be reached at john.chambliss@theledger.com or 863-802-7588.