Cops Corner: Pelican Press

Sept. 11
Friends no more?
11:15 p.m. — 5200 block of Ocean Boulevard. Petit Theft. The manager of a restaurant in the Village reported another person in the establishment had taken about $15 a customer had left in a guest booklet on a table. A check of the video surveillance had confirmed the theft, the manager said. The manager had told the suspect he had been seen taking the money, but the suspect returned the money before a deputy arrived on the scene. The manager said he didn’t want to pursue charges, but he wanted the deputy to tell both the suspect and an associate of the suspect to leave the premises and not return. The suspect was remorseful, the deputy reported, but the associate was belligerent in his exchanges with the deputy and the restaurant staff. The deputy forwarded the trespass warnings to the Sheriff’s Office.

Sept. 12
Rootin’ tootin’ shootin’ threats
8:15 a.m. — 4500 block of Banan Place. Suspicious Incident. A resident reported that a man he did not know, in his 30s, bald and about 6 feet tall, had come to his home and pounded on the door. When the resident opened the door, the man told him, “You got 24 hours to get out, or I’ll kill you.” The resident told the man to leave, and the man did so. The resident said he is involved in eviction proceedings with his landlord and that he believed his landlord had sent the man to his door. The resident also told the deputy he was a former Army Ranger and a “mercenary for hire” and that he had “killed people like (the man at the door) for fun.” The resident added he did not see the man holding a gun, but he believed he had one. The deputy found no suspect in the area matching the description the resident provided. The deputy noted the resident and the landlord had been engaged in a civil dispute for more than a month and that the deputy had responded before to that address in reference to a complaint by the landlord.

Gone in 30 minutes
2:03 p.m. — 5100 block of Ocean Boulevard. Petit Theft. A Houston resident on vacation in Sarasota reported an unknown suspect had taken her purse from a nightclub in the Village. The incident occurred between 12:30 a.m. and 1 a.m. Sept. 11, she said. The purse contained her driver’s license and about $60 in cash. She had set it down on a table in the club and left it unattended. She could not provide any suspect or witness information. A search for the purse was unsuccessful, the deputy reported.

‘I can’t hear you’
8:05 p.m. — 5200 block of Ocean Boulevard. Trespass After Warning. When a deputy responded to a complaint at a bar, he observed a man wearing a red shirt and white pants who appeared to be extremely intoxicated. The man was arguing with bar security personnel outside the establishment. When the deputy asked the man to lower his voice and explain what was going on, the man refused to identify himself and was uncooperative. The deputy then spoke with the complainant, who said she wanted the man removed from the property and ordered not to return. The deputy relayed that to the man, but the man promptly tried to re-enter the bar. The deputy arrested him and took him to jail.

Sept. 14
A higher power might have seen it
11:34 a.m. — 900 block of Beach Road. Petit Theft. A man reported that he was playing volleyball on Siesta Key Public Beach between 5 and 6:30 p.m. Sept. 13, in a match between two church groups. He had left his baseball hat, his wallet, which contained his driver’s license and $80 in cash, and his sunglasses by the side of the volleyball court, where he could keep an eye on them. Then, he said, he turned away for an instant, and the items were gone. No one reported seeing anyone take the items.