Cops Corner: Sarasota

Nov. 22
Suspicious suspects
3:16 p.m. — 1700 block of Main Street. Suspicious Vehicle. A bank employee reported four people sitting outside the bank in a silver Buick for an extended period of time. Upon arrival, police found the car without the occupants inside it.

Caught soliciting
3:25 p.m. — Intersection of 15th Street and North Tamiami Trail. Prostitution. A homeless woman was arrested for offering to perform a sexual act on a undercover police officer for $20.

Nov. 23
Paper trail
5:22 a.m. — 900 block of Boulevard of the Arts. Vehicle Crash. The manager of a condominium told police they had video of the newspaper driver running into their concrete fountain when he delivered papers that morning, causing $500 worth of damage to the fountain. The driver was located and issued two citations after admitting he hit the fountain.

Check it out
2:37 p.m. — 1500 block of North Orange Avenue. Suspicious Circumstance. A man living in a retirement home reported that he was missing his checkbook, a box of unused checks and was worried that $11,000 might be missing from his account. As a precaution, the bank opened a new account for him and told police none of his money was missing.

No longer welcome
9:50 p.m. — 1500 block of Fourth Street. Trespassing. A woman sleeping outside of a closed restaurant was issued a trespass warning and sent packing.

Nov. 24
It’s not them, it’s you
7:30 p.m. — 1300 block of South Tamiami Trail. Trespassing. A coffee shop employee called police to report a customer who kept harassing the staff. Police located the suspect outside, and he explained “the entire city just wants to harass him” and stated various businesses around town have issues with him. When he was handed his trespass notice that banished him from the property, police explained that the problem most likely lies with him and not all the businesses in town.

Disturbing scene
9:20 p.m. — 1000 block of North Tamiami Trail. Suspicious Circumstance. A woman told police she saw a man grab a woman’s shirt and rip it open, revealing her breasts. She said the woman was crying but obviously knew the man and drove off with him in a gray van after she asked the woman not to call the police. Officers couldn’t locate the couple.