Cops Corner

Jan. 9
Brick house
10 p.m. — 4100 block of Tonga Drive. Throwing a Deadly Missile. A woman answered a knock at the door. Two teens, a boy and girl, asked to see the woman’s teenage daughter. The woman said her daughter could not come to the door. About 30 minutes later, a brick paver was thrown through the daughter’s bedroom window. Nobody was hurt.

Jan. 12
You talking to me?
12:19 a.m. — 6500 block of Superior Avenue. Battery. A man inside a bar got into an argument with a group of people and ended up getting punched in the mouth. The puncher took off in a friend’s truck. When a deputy was responding, he noticed a truck speeding around Gulf Gate with its headlights off. Inside the truck was the puncher. He told the deputy that the victim was trying to talk to his girlfriend, and that’s why he got hit. The victim told the deputy he was with his own girlfriend and didn’t try to talk to anyone else. He believes the suspect mistook him for someone else, but he still wanted to press charges.

Jan. 17
Unwanted visitor
8:39 a.m. — 4200 block of Santo Avenue. Civil Disturbance. A woman called the Sheriff’s Office to complain that a man would not let her take her belongings from his house. The man told a deputy that the woman drove from out of state and showed up unannounced. She walked into his garage as he was leaving for work and demanded that she take the couch and television that were in the garage. The man said she had no way of transporting them. The man said he would contact the woman when she could pick up her stuff, and he asked that the woman be issued a trespassing warning.

E.T. phone home
5:28 p.m. — 8200 block of South Tamiami Trail. Petit Theft. A man rode his bike to the mall to see a movie. He locked it and went inside. When the movie was over, he went outside and saw the bike was gone.

Clean freaks
5:30 p.m. — 8400 block of South Tamiami Trail. Shoplifting. Four 20-something men were walking together through a supermarket. They were acting suspiciously and were headed toward the exit carrying a bag. An employee asked if he could look in the bag. One man dropped the bag, and all four men scattered and disappeared. Inside the bag — two bottles of Dove body wash.

Smoke break
6:05 p.m. — 2600 block of Stickney Point Road. Grand Theft. The owner of a convenience store was surprised to see a former employee inside his shop. He was equally surprised when he saw her trying to steal cigarettes from behind the counter. The owner immediately conducted a cigarette inventory and discovered 20 cartons were missing. The employee admitted that she had stolen those cigarettes, too. Before a deputy could arrive, the woman’s boyfriend showed up and offered to pay back the $1,000 in merchandise if the owner did not press charges. He agreed.

Early intervention
12:13 a.m. — 5700 block of Clark Road. Juvenile Disturbance. A convenience-store employee called the Sheriff’s Office because a teenage girl was getting sick in his store. She was throwing up in the aisles. She was with three teenage boys, and she appeared to have been drinking. Her parents were called to pick her up.