When Perry Lee Chance walked into the Winter Haven clothing store where 82-year-old Carol Sleeth was working, Sleeth had no way of knowing the same man would return four days later, rob her and beat her.

Assistant State Attorney Steven Alamia points to evidence during closing statements Thursday. The jury deliberated for an hour and a half before coming back with a guilty verdict.

Chance, 55, faces life in prison after a jury found him guilty Thursday of burglary with an assault, robbery, kidnapping to facilitate a felony, aggravated battery and burglary.

Assistant State Attorney Steven Alamia showed the jury surveillance video of Chance walking into the store Sept. 16, 2014, where he took money out of the register and beat the victim with his fists. Chance tied her up, gagged her and left her in the store while he stole her keys out of her purse and drove off in her car.

In addition to the video, the 911 call was played.

Sleeth called police after she broke free from her bonds and removed the gag from her mouth. She told law enforcement how Chance kept “beating and beating” her and how she was “bleeding all over.”

“There’s really no dispute about what happened – that she was robbed, that she was beat, that she bled a horrific amount,” Alamia told jurors during his closing statement on Thursday. “You could hear on the 911 call how distraught she was.”

Perry Lee Chance

The victim identified Chance as her attacker shortly after the incident. She had a stroke about a year later, which led to her death.

Law enforcement began tracking Chance’s cell phone and located him driving up Interstate-75 in the victim’s vehicle. When officers stopped the car, they found the phone they’d been tracking, the backpack Chance wore in the surveillance video and – laid out on the seat – the shirt and shorts that he was wearing.

“It ties it all together,” Alamia said. “He’s found in her car … what’s found in the car puts him in that video.”

But Alamia said one of the most significant facts of the case was that Chance’s cell phone pings within a mile of the store at the time of the crime.

“All the evidence points to the defendant,” Alamia said. “Not only is it undisputed that all of these crimes happened: this defendant beat her, he robbed her, he tied her up and stuffed something in her mouth.”

“He’s the one who did all that, and the state has proven it beyond a reasonable doubt,” he said.

It only took the jury an hour and a half to come back with a guilty verdict. Chance will be sentenced on Sept. 14.

FORT LAUDERDALE – Assistant State Attorney Randi Daugustinis was recognized at the Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) 2016 Statewide Law Enforcement Recognition Friday in Fort Lauderdale. Polk County Sheriff’s Office deputies nominated her for the “Outstanding Prosecutor Recognition” award for her work prosecuting DUI cases.

Daugustinis was recognized for her work with DUI cases at MADD’s Statewide Law Enforcement Recognition dinner Friday.

She was one of 13 prosecutors recognized from across the state of Florida.

PCSO Sgt. Scott Maginn’s MADD nomination letter said that in 2015 Daugustinis was a lead prosecutor in Polk County, prosecuting and convicting DUI offenders. Of the five cases Daugustinis took to trial, all received guilty verdicts. “This was due to her extensive preparation and knowledge of DUI procedures,” Maginn wrote.

He praised her for having a “positive, infectious demeanor” and for always working to perfect her craft through continued learning and communication with DUI experts at the Sheriff’s Office. Maginn wrote that Daugustinis “is an invaluable part of the fight to reduce impaired driving, traffic crashes and fatalities in Polk County.”

Assistant State Attorney Randi Daugustinis, left, and Deputy Ronald Brackley pose for a photo with their awards at the MADD Statewide Law Enforcement Recognition dinner in Fort Lauderdale Friday evening. Brackley was one of the deputies who nominated Daugustinis for her award.

PCSO Deputy Ronald Brackley, who was nominated for MADD’s Law Enforcement Officer of the Year, was one of the officers who nominated Daugustinis for her award. She said Brackley taught her everything there is to know about drug DUIs and is responsible for a lot of her training.

In Brackley’s nomination letter, he told MADD Daugustinis sets the bar for prosecuting DUI cases, and attorneys should attempt to match her dedication to investigations and courtroom preparation. He said deputies know that when Daugustinis is the attorney handling their cases, they have nothing to be worried about in the courtroom.

Randi Daugustinis poses with her award after the 2016 Statewide Law Encorcement Recognition. She was one of 13 prosecutors from across the state of Florida.

Daugustinis said it was an honor for her to be recognized Friday alongside so many officers and attorneys she looks up to. Attending the MADD recognition dinner and listening to victims’ families tell stories about their lost loved ones brought her to tears multiple times, but she said, it only confirmed why she’s so passionate about prosecuting DUIs.

“The prosecutors help these families get some closure,” Daugustinis said. “We’re getting some of these people off the street and preventing innocent people from getting killed or injured.”