COPS CORNER: Sarasota

August 21
KEY SUSPECT
10 a.m. 3300 block of North Tamiami Trail. Criminal Mischief. A woman reported that her car had been keyed. She said she suspected the owner of the business next to her business. The two had gotten in an argument about the woman parking in a space behind the man’s business. The man denied the vandalism, but told officers the woman shouldn’t park in spaces that are for his customers.

August 23
GARBAGE GRAB
4:50 p.m. 2100 block of North Washington Boulevard. Petit Theft — Shoplifting. A clerk at a store witnessed a man rummaging through a garbage can and removing what appeared to be a receipt. She said the man walked into the store, grabbed an item from a shelf, walked around and then returned to the woman’s field of vision with no item visible. The man then left the store and came back shortly
after to return an item, which she believed had been stolen.

August 25
VALET DISMAY
12:54 p.m. 400 block of St. Armands Circle. Dispute/Fight. A man said he was trying to park his car in a parking space that was blocked off by a business’s valet area, though the spot was located beyond designated signs from the city marking the valet area. The business owner said the city sign was incorrect; he argued with officers when told it was not.

RETURN TO SENDER
2:56 p.m. 3700 block of North Tamiami Trail. Suspicion General. A man came into a store requesting to return several items. He provided a receipt that listed different merchandise than what was being returned. When an employee said she was going to call the cops because she believed the items were stolen, the man fled.

OBSCENE-IC ROUTE
3:50 p.m. 1900 block of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Other Disorderly Conduct. A man said he had just recently opened a new store and that another man had been harassing him and causing him problems. The other man said every time he drives past the storeowner, the storeowner makes obscene gestures. Officers advised both men to ignore each other.