Cops Corner: East County

The following information was gathered from incident and arrest reports obtained from the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.

July 11
 Up in arms
6:18 p.m. — 3500 block of Morgan Johnson Road. Theft Between $300 and $5,000. The victim reported his brother had died, and he went to the address to secure his brother’s belongings. He noticed the rifle cases were empty. The victim contacted the owner of the property, who stated he kept the brother’s weapons in his safe and the brother asked him to pawn the rifles for him, which he did. The victim does not believe the owner or that his brother would have asked to do that.

July 17
 Pool crashers
3:06 a.m. — 6300 block of Bay Cedar Lane. Trespass Warning. The individuals were at the community pool. None of the subjects lived in the community. The reporting party is the treasurer for the community association and went to the pool. While in the deputy’s presence, the party gave the suspects a trespass warning. The subjects acknowledged the warning and immediately left the area.

All in
9:35 a.m. — 1100 block of State Road 64 E. Grand Theft. The suspect walked behind the clerk’s counter and stole 24 $20 lottery tickets.

Paver punch
2:53 p.m. — 200 block of Heritage Isles Way. Criminal Mischief Misdemeanor $200 and Under. The complainant stated an unknown person threw a driveway paver at his window, causing damage. The victim did not observe anyone near the home at the time of the incident.

Bag bust
3:16 p.m. — 8300 block of Lockwood Ridge Road. Petit/Grand Theft — Shoplifting. The defendant entered the store and selected items off the shelf. She attempted to conceal the items in the bag she was carrying. She passed points of sale without attempting to pay for the items. Security stopped her at the exit. Items taken totaled $99.97 and were recovered on scene.

Object in motion
6:56 p.m. — 6200 block of State Road 64 E. Theft Between $300 and $5,000. The reporting party stated an unknown younger male drove a motorized shopping cart off the property. The man was last seen driving the shopping cart westbound on S.R. 64. The estimated value of the stolen cart is $2,000.

July 18 
 Fishy business
8:34 a.m. — 5800 block of 41st Street E. Petit Theft. The victim reported the theft of two of his downriggers that he left next to his garage door. The victim said he had also come across an ad in the newspaper that listed downriggers for sale. The downriggers he had were rare, so he believed the listed downriggers were the ones stolen from his home.

Secret shopper
11:33 a.m. — 11000 block of M-j Road. Fraud/Possession ID of Another without Consent. The complainant reported unknown persons had used her personal information to open an account at Kohl’s.

Shopaholics
3:08 p.m. — 2900 block of 53rd Avenue E. Petit/Grand Theft — Shoplifting. According to a sworn affidavit by loss prevention, the defendants had concealed items and then walked to the front door of the store, passing all points of sale, and exited without paying for the items, which were valued at $141.82. Loss prevention approached the defendants and escorted them to the office while the Sheriff’s Office was contacted. The defendants were arrested.

Cut cable
6:11 p.m. — 800 block of Tropical Drive. Petit/Grand Theft. The deputy responded to a report of a bicycle theft. The victim said he had his bicycle, which was valued at $126, cable-locked to his front porch rail. The bicycle was last seen at 4 p.m. July 17. On July 18, the victim noticed the cable had been cut and the bicycle was missing. No evidence was left behind.

Glass smasher
10 p.m. — 5200 block of Office Park Boulevard. Burglary Unoccupied Structure Unarmed. The deputy responded to an alarm at the address and discovered the front glass door of the business had been smashed. Unknown persons had taken property valued at $60.