Cops Corner

Aug. 10
License to bill
1:04 a.m. — 1400 block of Main Street. Theft. A man walked out of a bar without paying his $52 bar tab. He drank eight Budweisers and five vodka cocktails. The manager followed him outside and gave him one last chance to pay his tab. The man began to argue with the manager and then got in his pickup truck and drove away. But he forgot one very important thing, he left his driver’s license at the bar when he opened the tab.

The customer is not always right
1:30 a.m. — 5200 block of Ocean Boulevard. Disorderly Conduct and Resisting Arrest. A man was arrested for disorderly conduct after causing a scene at a convenience store. The man was with a male friend and female friend inside the store. Another customer exited the store and told a sheriff’s deputy that the three suspects were inside the store yelling and swearing at employees and customers. The three walked outside, and the deputy asked them to stop so he could talk to them. They ignored him and kept walking. The deputy finally got them to stop, but the two men in the group began yelling at the deputy. Their female friend talked the deputy out of arresting them if she calmed them down and took them directly home. But one of the men broke away from her and got in the deputy’s face. That’s when he was told he was under arrest, but he resisted being handcuffed and kept pushing the deputy. Another deputy arrived to help arrest the man, and he was taken to jail.

Mall stalkers
10:30 a.m. — 3500 block of South Tamiami Trial. Burglary. Two mall stores were burglarized overnight. At the first business, the thief lifted part of the store’s front gate about 18 inches. That was enough for him to reach the counter and remove a money envelope with $700 inside, as well as a computer, camera and phone. The thief who hit the second store, however, walked away empty-handed. He could not break into the safe, and the filing cabinet he was able to access only had paperwork in it. Nothing was stolen.

U-turn, then I turn
6:20 p.m. — South Tamiami Trail and Bay Acres Avenue. Criminal Mischief. The complainant was driving on Tamiami Trail, when he noticed a truck tailgating him. The truck passed him, but the two vehicles ended up side-by-side at the next stoplight. When the light turned green, the complainant saw something fly out of the truck’s window and hit his car’s windshield, causing a large crack. The complainant began following the truck, which made a couple of U-turns to try to lose the car, but the complainant stayed with the truck. The truck then turned onto a dirt road at Bay Street and drove through a construction area. The complainant didn’t follow, but he did get the truck’s tag number, and he passed it on to investigators.

Rigorous training program
8 p.m. — 1900 block of Main Street. Petit Theft. A woman was applying for a job at a movie theater. She set her purse and cell phone on a counter while she filled out the application. At one point, she looked up from the paper work and saw that her purse and phone were gone. There were no witnesses.

Aug. 11
Baby on board
2 a.m. — Fruitville Road and Jefferson Avenue. Attempt to Locate Vehicle. A man let a female friend borrow his car, so she could go to the drug store and buy a pregnancy test. She never returned with the car. The man said he doesn’t want to prosecute — he just wants his car returned.

Naked ambition
7:30 p.m. — 4100 block of Central Sarasota Parkway. Lewd and Lascivious Act. A woman said she was walking on a sidewalk when she saw a nude man in the wood-line with a towel over his face. She called the sheriff’s office, and a deputy used his K-9 dog to track the sparsely clothed man. The dog lost the scent after a while, and the man was not found.

Incense incident
3:18 p.m. — 1200 block of South Tamiami Trail. Shoplifting. As a woman was walking out of a specialty-gift store, the alarm sounded, indicating she might have tried to steal something. While employees asked the woman to remove any items in her purse that she may have concealed, they heard a crinkling sound coming from the woman’s pants. It was a $1.99 bag of frankincense. She was arrested.