Cops Corner: Pelican Press

Sept. 1
SPENDING SPREE
11:30 a.m. — 900 block of Beach Road. Burglary of a Vehicle. A man reported that credit cards were taken from his gold Chevy Impala while it was parked in the public beach parking lot. After calling his bank, the man discovered the stolen cards were used to make about $800 in purchases from a department store at a local mall. The man, who told officers he was vacationing on Siesta Key, had left his rental vehicle unlocked.

Sept. 2
CALL TO ACTION
8:51 p.m. — 1200 block of Sea Plume Way. Special Interest Person. Deputies responded to the house of a woman who called 911 to say she was planning to jump into the Grand Canal. She was transported from the residence for treatment.

Sept. 4
COME ON AND TAKE A FREE RIDE
9 a.m. — 900 block of Beach Road. Grand Theft of a Motor Vehicle. Police ran the license plate of a 1998 Honda Civic after it rolled past a patrolling officer in the Siesta Key beach parking lot. The car was identified as a stolen vehicle, and a deputy cornered the car and ordered the driver to exit the vehicle. After the officer handcuffed the man, who was described in the report as homeless, the man said, “I didn’t think she’d do it.” The driver admitted to deputies most of the items in the car belonged to him.
A passenger waiting in the car told officers the man picked him up from the parking lot of Cracker Jack’s Pub an hour earlier.

PARTY POOPER
11:49 a.m. — 8200 block of Midnight Pass Road. Grand Theft. A woman came into the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office downtown location to report that her X-Box and a “black game system” were stolen from a “raging” party in March. The associated police report states that the party occurred March 20 at a rented bungalow. Hundreds of people were in attendance throughout the night.

Sept. 5
TAKING THE BRONZE
8:30 a.m. — 1200 block of Tree Bay Lane. Grand Theft. A woman called deputies to report that a bronze statue of two “life-sized” cranes valued at $2,000 was stolen while she and her husband were sleeping. Officers stated that the unknown suspects sawed the statue from its base, and that there were no witnesses.