Cops Corner 06.17.10

June 7
That’s not cool
7 a.m. — 1500 block of Stickney Point Road. Burglary. A restaurant owner arrived at work in the morning and saw that someone had opened the food-cooler door and spoiled more than $13,000 worth of food. The suspect pried open a locked wooden fence, then pried open the cooler door. The door was left open overnight, but nothing was stolen. Nearly 1,000 pounds of seafood and steaks were ruined. The owner believes she knows who the culprit is, and thinks they did it to cause financial harm. Detectives agreed.

Give him a break
10:46 p.m. — 7100 block of South Tamiami Trail. Harassing Phone Call. The owner of a new business was introducing himself to neighboring businesses one day. When he walked into one restaurant, an employee inquired about changing jobs and working for him. Later that evening, that employee’s boss called the new business owner and told him that if he ever entered his restaurant again he “would break his &%$!* legs.” He said he didn’t care if the call was recorded — he would still break his legs. The new business owner said he did not want to press charges.

June 8
Against all odds
7:29 a.m. — 3500 block of Fruitville Road. Theft. A gas-station employee was caught on camera stealing $851 worth of scratch-off lottery tickets. The employee told police she thought she would win enough money to pay her rent and pay back the cost of the lottery tickets. Things didn’t go according to plan, and she was taken to jail.

All about the Benjamins
2:10 p.m. — 4000 block of Clark Road. Suspicious Incident. A restaurant manager became suspicious when a couple tried to pay their bill. The woman gave them a $100 bill, but, after inspecting it, the manager thought it might be counterfeit. A deputy took the bill to a nearby bank, and an employee there also believed it to be counterfeit. The woman said she was a waitress and had received the bill at work. Because it was realistic-looking and could have been legitimate, the deputy gave the $100 back to the woman and told her to contact her boss.

June 8
Rock of love
11:06 a.m. — 1000 block of Siesta Drive. Suspicious Incident. A man saw a woman throw something heavy into the water at Bay Island Park and hurry back to her car. He thought it may have been a gun, so he called police. When an officer called the woman, she told him that she had thrown a rock into the water. A boyfriend had written a love note on the rock and gave it to her. They had just broken up, and she wanted “to break the negative energy by destroying the rock.” She broke it in two and threw the first half into the water. She said she planned to throw the other half off the Stickney Point Bridge, “So both halves will never again be joined.”

Space invader
2:56 p.m. — 5200 block of Ocean Boulevard. Battery. A seven-month dispute over a parking space ended with a slap across the face. A sandwich-shop employee said the owner of a neighboring business has been nagging him about parking in front of the sandwich shop. She claimed that he was in her customers’ parking spot. The woman yelled at him again, he cursed at her, and she slapped him. The worker called the sheriff’s office, and a deputy told the woman she does not own the parking spaces. The sandwich-shop employee said he did not want to press charges.