Cops Corner: Pelican Press

Dec. 24
An open-and-shut case
5:50 p.m. — 6300 block of Midnight Pass Road. Residential Burglary. A woman reported that she and her family had checked into their condo about 3 p.m. and gone down to the beach. When they returned a couple of hours later, she found her purse had been taken from the dresser where she had left it. The total value of items in the purse, including jewelry, was $5,000, she said. She had found no signs of forced entry, but she had found the bathroom door unlocked, and it was one of two entry points for the unit. The responding deputy noted the condo is on the fifth floor of a multi-condo unit. The entry to the building usually is patrolled, he wrote, but the entry had been left open that day. The front door of the condo has a rotating entry code, he said. The deputy also found no signs of forced entry. The deputy searched trashcans in the vicinity of the condo and the common laundry room on each floor from the fifth floor down to the ground level, but he found no sign of the purse. The deputy added in his report that he could not be certain whether a previous tenant of the condo had left the bathroom door unlocked or whether the thief might have had a key or the entry code to the front door.

One time too many
7:44 p.m. — 1200 block of Old Stickney Point Road. Disturbance. The owner of a restaurant told a deputy he had allowed a 46-year-old man to frequent his business for several years, but that he had had an ongoing problem with the man becoming loud and disorderly. The restaurant owner said he finally had had enough and wanted the man trespassed from the property. The deputy warned the man not to return to the restaurant.

Sensitive ears
11:43 p.m. — 100 block of Avenida Messina. Noise Disturbance. A deputy dispatched to a Village restaurant found a disc jockey inside, packing up for the night. The deputy reported that he did not hear any noise from the establishment. The deputy also reported that, at the time of the call, he was within 1,000 feet of the restaurant, and he had not heard any noise then, either. The person who had called in the complaint refused to meet with the deputy. Because the restaurant was quiet, the deputy wrote he saw no need to take a noise meter reading.

Dec. 27
Sorry the present’s late
11:04 a.m. — 5900 block of Midnight Pass Road. Theft. A 32-year-old man called the Sheriff’s Office to report the theft of his iPad from his residence. He said he had been on a trip to Costa Rica; when he returned, he found the iPad missing. He said he had had a couple of people staying in the home while he was gone. The man added that he had talked to those people, but he didn’t think either had taken the iPad. The man said his front door was unlocked when he returned to the house from his trip, which made him think it had not been kept locked while he was gone. The deputy spoke with one of the people who had stayed at the home while the man was out of the country. That woman told the deputy she had stayed there for two days after the owner had left, but she had not returned. However, she said another man had stayed there after she had left, and he had had several people come over. The deputy was unable to contact that man. 

Dec. 28
Fingering the goods
10:10 a.m. — 1300 block of Dockside Place. Grand Theft. A 65-year-old woman reported that she had had two to four different men from a moving company in her home at various times since Dec. 14. They had been packing up boxes. However, she had left her jewelry in a box on her dresser. She said she found six rings, including an engagement ring valued at $5,000 and a gold ring valued at $3,000, missing from the box; she believed one of the men had taken them. She added that she knew the name of the moving company, but not the names of the workers who had been in her home.

A holiday surprise
3:15 p.m. — 5100 block of Ocean Boulevard. Battery. A 33-year-old man reported that he and his 27-year-old brother had gotten into a fight at a nightclub about 1 a.m. Christmas Day, after his brother had hit him in the back and side of his head with a closed fist. The club’s bouncers had intervened, and the suspects had gone their separate ways. The 33-year-old said he did not want to file charges, but he did want a Sheriff’s Office report of the incident.