Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Cindy Lynette Clark, 42, and Teresa Ann Moore, 27, were arrested yesterday after allegedly fleeing the scene of a battery and robbery and hiding from deputies inside a residence.

At about 11:53 p.m. on September 5, an Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputy responded to the Eastside Food Store (3423 SE Hawthorne Road) after the victim reported that there was a “wanted person” there in a gray Dodge Ram pickup.

The victim told deputies that she and Clark had an argument because Clark kept asking her for money, and the argument became physical when Clark punched her multiple times and then snatched her purse from her hands, stealing about $80. The victim said Clark also grabbed her wig, pulling pieces from it. The victim reportedly had bloody scratches and showed deputies several loose pieces of her wig. The incident was reportedly captured on video at the store.

A deputy saw a gray Dodge Ram fleeing from the scene at a high rate of speed and attempted a traffic stop, but the truck sped up and continued to flee south on SE 35th Street. The deputy abandoned the pursuit due to agency policy but found the vehicle about a minute later in front of Clark’s home.

The deputy reported hearing a door close as he got out of his vehicle and gave PA announcements, but Clark did not emerge from the home.

While deputies were surrounding Clark’s home, they reportedly heard her threaten to shoot them.

Moore was allegedly in the pickup truck with Clark as she fled from the deputy; she was later seen at the back door of Clark’s home by a deputy, but she went back inside. Moore eventually came out of the home and was arrested at about 12:40 a.m.

Moore reportedly told deputies that Clark was not inside the home; she also said she was not sure whether Clark had run inside the home, and, post Miranda, she reportedly said she had seen Clark inside the house.

Post Miranda, Moore reportedly said that she saw Clark punch the victim and saw her snatch the victim’s purse from her hands. She said Clark had been driving the pickup truck. Moore reportedly said the incident began when she tried to remove the victim from her car and Clark came over to “help” her, but she never asked Clark to help her.

After several hours, deputies broke down the perimeter but continued to surveil the house.

Clark was seen leaving the home by the back door at about 4 a.m. and was arrested after a traffic stop in the 2700 block of SE Hawthorne Road. While being transported to jail, Clark reportedly said to a deputy, “You gonna get shot in the back of the head one day, I swear to God.”

Clark has been charged with robbery by sudden snatching, fleeing law enforcement with lights and sirens active, battery with a prior battery conviction, two counts of making a threat to harm a law enforcement officer, and resisting an officer without violence. She was also booked on a warrant for violating probation on a 2020 case that included charges of battery on a law enforcement officer and DUI. Judge George Wright ordered her held without bail until the probation violation case is resolved, and he also ordered her held without bail on the new charges, pending a hearing on a motion from the State Attorney’s office to hold her without bail until trial; if the judge denies the motion, bail will be set at that hearing.

Moore has been charged with accessory after the fact to a felony and resisting an officer without violence. She has no criminal convictions but is in a pre-trial diversion program that would defer prosecution on a drug possession charge for a year from July 30, 2025, if she did not violate the terms of the agreement; new charges would violate the terms of the agreement. Judge Wright set bail at $7,500.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.