Two men charged with climbing aerial crane

Two men were charged with trespassing on a posted construction site early Wednesday following a security guard’s report they had climbed a construction crane in the 600 block of Gulfstream Avenue, police said.

Thomas D. Jefferson, 18, of Sarasota, and Javier Vargas, 25, of Tampa were arrested just before 1 a.m. and charged with the felony.

Police said officers were called to the construction site at 605 S. Gulfstream Ave. by security personnel who had reported seeing two men climbing the ladder to the aerial crane on the site, which is posed as a no-trespassing zone.

The security personnel called for the men to come down via public-address system and issued trespassing warnings to them as well.

Police ordered the two men to come down and arrested them when they returned to ground level.  

They were booked into the Sarasota County Jail and were released on bond.