Cops Corner 07.15.10

The following information was gathered from incident and arrest reports obtained from the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.

GATES CREEK
July 3
 12:01 a.m. — 11000 block of Third Avenue Northeast. Criminal mischief. Unknown person(s) placed what appeared to be fireworks inside the complainant’s mailbox. Upon discharge, the mailbox was destroyed. The complainant stated that shortly after he and his wife went to bed, they heard a loud explosion. They stated they believed it was just kids with fireworks and did not investigate further. The following morning, the complainant discovered the damaged mailbox. The complainant doesn’t know who damaged the mailbox or why. A series of eight photos of the mailbox were taken.

LAKEWOOD RANCH
July 3
 11 a.m. — 13600 block of Blythefield Terrace. Burglary. The victim, who owns the residence, recently moved to California, but she still has property in the residence, which will be moved to her new home in the future. The complainant and her husband went to the victim’s residence to pick up some items. As they pulled up, they saw the neighbor walk from behind the home carrying a horse statue.

SARASOTA
July 5
 6:45 a.m. — 8400 block of Louisiana Street. Home invasion. Two suspects entered the residence and engaged in a physical altercation with the residents by forcing their way past the front door. After a short struggle, both suspects fled the scene in the suspect vehicle.

Reported July 5
 1:54 p.m. — 3200 Whitfield Ave. (Greg’s Fence). Burglary to an unoccupied structure. Unknown person(s) entered the business by busting the lock and handle off of the front door. Once inside, the person(s) stole multiple power and cordless tools from the business. The person(s) then fled the scene in an unknown direction.

OTHER
July 3
 4 p.m. — The intersection of Williams Road and Upper Manatee River Road. Grand theft. The complainant left his homemade trailer on the north side of the road after it suffered a flat left tire. When he returned to replace the tire on the trailer and haul it back, the trailer was gone.

4:45 p.m. — 2911 53rd Ave. E. (Walmart). Retail petit theft. The defendant was caught concealing merchandise and leaving the store without paying. She was stopped and detained and the merchandise was recovered. The defendant was arrested without incident and transported to jail. She had two Midol and one Maxifed in her purse, which the jail would not allow. The responding deputy printed a property receipt and put a copy in the defendant’s property. The medication was placed into property and evidence.

11:10 p.m. — 6700 block of 70th Court East. Home invasion robbery. The victim is an employee of Grand China Buffet and lives at the residence with her in-laws, who are the owners of the business. She pulled into her garage on the south side and got out of her car. Two unknown suspects came running toward her from inside the west side of the garage. One of the suspects pointed a handgun at her. The suspects told her to be quiet and one suspect got behind her and put his hand over her mouth. The other suspect opened the rear driver’s side door and took her purse, which contained money from the business and several other items.