Cops Corner: East County

Sept. 28
Underage drinking
2:24 p.m. — 9500 block of S.R. 64 E. Alcoholic Beverage Possession By Person Under 21. A middle-school principal reported that a student brought three 32-ounce sports drink bottles to school with alcohol in them and gave two of the bottles to other students. The student was suspended and released to his mother.

Oct. 2
Extra baggage
6:18 p.m. — 4100 block of Pro Am Avenue E. Assist. A woman and her father asked a deputy if the woman was being arrested or was under interrogation, when a deputy went to their home to retrieve a bag that they had wrongly picked up at an airport that had firearms inside. The woman said she was on her way back to the airport and rode with a deputy to the Skyway Bridge, where airport police picked her up so that she could go back to the airport and sort out the situation.

Oct. 5
Lost and found
6:47 a.m. — 200 block of Cape Harbour Loop. Information Only. A child woke up at 6:20 a.m., unlocked the deadbolt and went walking around the neighborhood while her father was at the store and her mother was sleeping. The child’s father came home a few minutes later, found the front door open and immediately woke up the child’s mother, who called 911 while the father drove around the neighborhood calling out the child’s name. Within a few minutes, he spotted the child with a neighbor, who was walking her kids to the bus stop and found the child.

Crude caller
2:30 p.m. — 6900 block of Pine Valley Street, Making Harassing Telephone Calls. A woman has been getting constant calls from a man who says he is a collector and then makes derogatory remarks because she won’t give him information.

Not water under the bridge
7:35 p.m. — 5100 block of Lakewood Ranch Blvd. Domestic Disturbance. A man said that he accidentally spilled water on his ex-wife’s boyfriend during an argument, but the boyfriend believed that he threw it intentionally. The group was gathered at a community center to watch the former couple’s son play football.

Oct. 6
Sticking to her guns
2 p.m. — 7300 block of Oak Run Lane. Domestic Disturbance. A woman told deputies that she had a .22 caliber pistol in her hand but didn’t point it when she told her estranged husband to leave her driveway. The woman reported that her husband yelled, “A gun!” and jumped in his vehicle and left when he spotted the weapon.

Buyer beware
3:51 p.m. — 38000 block of Taylor Road. Information Only. A man reported that he and his family were checking on a property for sale by a bank, when a man came out of the mobile home on the property and threatened to get his gun if they didn’t leave. The man smelled of beer. The man’s wife came out of the mobile home to calm him down.

Oct. 8
Nigerian scam
6:05 p.m. — 6600 block of 93rd St. E. Information Only. A man reported that his company wired $22,000 to Nigeria, thinking that a credit card number was good, and later learned that the number was invalid.

Don’t egg him on
6:56 p.m. — 4400 block of 26th Ave. E. Criminal Mischief. A man reported that someone crushed his barbecue/smoker while he wasn’t home. The man told deputies that he suspects his former employer, whom he reported to the state for improper business practices. The former employer despises the man’s neighbor but had delivered eggs to her earlier that day, according to the man.

Oct. 9
Following their lead
4:05 p.m. — 8300 block of Lockwood Ridge Road. Information Only. A couple reported that a man they didn’t know followed them throughout a store while they shopped and followed them to their vehicle but never spoke to them.

Oct. 10
Bra bandit
5:02 p.m. — 5200 block of University Parkway. Petit Theft. A department-store, loss-prevention employee reported that a woman stole $196 worth of bras. The employee wasn’t able to apprehend the woman but wrote down the tag number of the vehicle in which she left.

Oct. 13
Copper Out 
11:54 p.m. — 7200 block of Linger Lodge Road. Theft of Copper. Unknown person(s) entered the fenced area of a power station at the listed location by cutting the fence to get into the field. Once at the power station, the suspect(s) cut another fence and then cut the wires hanging from the power poles . The person(s) then fled with copper.

Parking lot call-out
11:08 p.m. — 3200 block of University Parkway. Domestic Disturbance. A boyfriend and girlfriend were having a verbal argument in the parking lot of a restaurant. There was no alleged physical violence and the deputy did not observe evidence of violence. Both parties were issued domestic packets and went separate ways.

Oct. 14
Shopping cart expedition
12:18 p.m. — 8300 block of Lockwood Ridge Road. Petit Theft, First Degree. The suspect went into the store and filled a grocery cart full of merchandise. The suspect then exited the front door, passing all points of sale without paying for the items. A loss-prevention officer stopped the suspect outside the store but the suspect fled on foot. He was not immediately located.