Thursday morning a local woman took an unexpected ride in a dumpster to the landfill.

Debbie Boyce of the Goodwill Store in Winchester couldn't believe what had happened in the store's dumpster early Thursday morning. Police say a truck came to pick up this dumpster and take it to the Frederick County Landfill. When it got there it was carrying more than just trash; a woman was inside.

The 48 year old from Boyce had reportedly spent the night inside the dumpster. "She says she was not homeless, she says she was not injured, she says she was not under the influence of any intoxicants, we believe she was probably in there scavenging," says Major Robert Eckman of the Frederick County Sheriff's Office.

It wasn't the first time the woman had been to the Goodwill Store. "This lady was here on Tuesday and the bag of clothes she had on Tuesday was from another thrift store in town so I think the maybe the dumpster was a quick stash until she could get back and get her stolen merchandise," says Boyce.

Boyce says she finds a lot of people scrounging around through the trash. "I don't know if it's because of the economy, but it's really starting to be a problem that is definitely on the rise," says Boyce.

So-called dumpster diving became such a problem for Frederick County that an ordinance was created. Major Eckman says people can be fined, or spend time behind bars if they're caught doing it. "That was there for the protection of the citizens plus we had some issues years where people would get in a dumpster, throw stuff out on the ground that they didn't want and took what they wanted and of course that caused even more cleanup costs," says Major Eckman.

The woman walked away unharmed from the incident and Boyce says she's lucky she did. "People just don't realize what goes in that dumpster and how dangerous and how much they're putting their life at risk by going in there," says Boyce.

The woman found in the dumpster is not being charged because there are no ordinances in the city of Winchester. In Frederick County, it is a class one misdemeanor, meaning 12 months in jail and up to a $2,500 fine.