Cops Corner

April 4
Booty in her pants
1 p.m. — 1200 block of South Tamiami Trail. Shoplifting. A store manager spotted a customer taking two rocks and a desk calendar from a display shelf and placing them all in her pants. The woman then walked out the door without paying for her booty. The manager caught the woman and walked her back to the store. When police arrived, the customer gave officers a false name, but was caught doing that as well. She was taken to jail.

April 8
Thief needs driving lessons
3:30 p.m. — 800 block of South Lime Avenue. Car Theft. It didn’t take long for police to discover what happened to a car that was stolen from a man’s driveway while he was out of the country. Two days before the man returned home and realized it had been stolen, the car had been involved in a hit-and-run accident a couple of miles from his home. The suspect has not been found.

April 11
That’s giving him too much credit
6:14 p.m. — 4000 block of Crockers Lake Boulevard. Grand Theft. A disabled senior citizen allowed his nephew to use four credit cards to buy $3,000 in wine for the nephew’s business. That was in December, and, ever since, the nephew has racked up more than $15,000 on the cards and has refused to pay back the money. The uncle provided sheriff’s deputies with the credit-card statements to help with the investigation.

April 12
Time for an intervention
12:12 a.m. — 2900 block of Browning Street. Assault on a Law Enforcement Officer. A man called paramedics because his drunk friend was lying face down in the man’s backyard. But when paramedics arrived, the friend became belligerent and would not let them near him. Police were called, and the friend began yelling racial slurs at one officer and challenged him to a fight. He puffed his chest out and drew his fists back. Officers told him to get back down on the ground, but he kept moving toward them. One officer shot the friend with a Taser. After that, the friend complied with every order and was taken to jail.

April 13
Hard-headed
4:11 a.m. — 1400 block of 10th Street. Suspicious Person. A man was seen beating his head against a wall. He said he needed help getting back in his room.

Peeping Tom
11:27 a.m. — 400 block of South Gulf Stream Avenue. Suspicious Person. A man wearing a bandana over his face was looking into vehicles as he walked through a parking lot. Now, that is a suspicious person.

Lost the translation
1:50 p.m. — 8200 block of South Tamiami Trail. Grand Theft. The clerk at a kiosk that sells language-education software said someone stole a $419 language course. She said five men were hanging around her kiosk at about the same time the software was stolen. Deputies may want to look for a group of guys who all of a sudden can speak seven different languages.

No room at the inn
6:21 p.m. — 1000 block of Indian Beach Drive. Burglary. A college student’s laptop computer was stolen from her home, and police have a good lead on who the thief might be. While the student was away for the weekend, her mother showed a young man a room that her daughter was trying to rent in her home. The mother mentioned to the young man that her daughter was out of town. She believes while he was looking through the home, he may have unlocked the back door and returned later to steal the computer. The mother did not remember the young man’s name.

Hey boss, how about a locker?
10:09 p.m. — 1900 block of Stickney Point Road. Grand Theft. A restaurant employee is not allowed to keep his belongings at work, so he left his backpack in an alley while he was working. When he went to retrieve his backpack, it was gone. The pack and the items inside were valued at $1,200. The victim said a transient may have stolen his pack.

Not a happy drunk
11:35 p.m. — 5300 block of Ocean Boulevard. Resisting Officer with Violence During Arrest. A deputy was called to a bar because a man had become belligerent and refused to leave. The deputy asked for the man’s I.D. He replied with an expletive and “I don’t have to.” After asking several more times and getting the same response, the deputy told the man he was under arrest. The man told the deputy he was not going to be arrested and walked away. The deputy tried to handcuff the 6-foot-3-inch, 210-pound man, but the man fought back. It took a group of bouncers and pepper spray, but the man was eventually taken to jail.