Cops Corner: Longboat Key

Nov. 26
Colony crimes
12:47 p.m. — 1600 block of GMD. Trespassing. Firefighters responded to a fire alarm at the shuttered Colony Beach & Tennis Resort and found the tower’s front-door glass broken and the front door unlocked. It appears someone reached through the broken door and unlocked it. Police couldn’t locate a suspect.

No cause for alarm
1:56 p.m. — 500 block of Jungle Queen Way. Burglar Alarm. A resident accidentally set off her burglar alarm.

Beating the charge
3:22 p.m. — 6300 block of GMD. Code Enforcement. A caller reported that people were apparently staying in a motor home. The people who were renting the residence where the motor home is parked said they were staying in the house and keep the motor home plugged in to keep the batteries charged. Police didn’t find any violations.

Nov. 27
Suspicious boater
3:01 a.m. — 6700 block of GMD. Suspicious Circumstance. A man tied his fishing boat onto a woman’s boat house dock. Police saw a man wearing a blue raincoat on a fishing boat moving slowly away from the dock. He sped away in his boat when police ordered him to stop. Police were unable to locate him.

Blown away
6:57 a.m. — 300 block of Fire House Lane. Burglar Alarm. A burglar alarm went off after the wind blew open a door that wasn’t closed properly.

A weighty matter
9:24 a.m. — 500 block of Bay Isles Parkway. Lost/Missing Property. A woman placed her purse on a bench before weighing herself at Publix and forgot to pick it up when she left the store. Police and store employees were unable to find the purse.

Hearing voices
10:42 a.m. — 700 block of Marbury Lane. Suspicious Circumstance. A man and woman said they were woken up by voices in their garage. Police found the garage deadbolted and secured from the inside. The man said he saw a man walking a dog as he was calling the police.

No stopping her
12:57 p.m. — Intersection of Gulf of Mexico Drive and Gunwale Lane. Emergency Message. The driver of a red truck made a quick turn in front of a bicyclist, causing the bicyclist to have to brake immediately and lose control of his bicycle. The driver kept moving and didn’t stop. Police located the driver who said she didn’t stop because the cyclist was yelling at her.

Will he get a pass?
1:41 p.m. — 300 block of GMD. Property Damage. An Islandside resident got out of his vehicle and physically removed a gate when he couldn’t get his vehicle’s gate pass to work after three attempts. The homeowners association president initially wanted to press charges but later said he wanted to speak to the resident first before deciding whether to seek
charges.

Cyber scam
2:24 p.m. — 600 block of Old Compass Road. Fraud. Solicitors called a woman twice in two days. The first time, the caller disabled the woman’s computer. The second caller told her she had viruses on her computer and tried to sell her packages to fix the problem. She said she wasn’t interested, then saw delete file warnings flash up on the screen; she couldn’t turn her computer off. A Verizon representative told her the calls were probably scams and suggested she make a police report and take her computer to a repair facility.

Nov. 28
You can go home again
11:02 a.m. — 3500 block of Bayou Pointe. Burglar Alarm. A homeowner called police after his alarm company called to tell him that his alarm had been activated. Police found the door open and a small dog walking around the yard. The homeowner said he had just left and would return to lock the door.

Out of sight
6:37 p.m. — 4500 block of GMD. Welfare Check. A woman asked police to check on a couple. Police found the unit dark with all blinds closed. It didn’t appear anyone was staying there, and the car didn’t appear to have been moved for some time. A second vehicle wasn’t on the property. Dispatch relayed the findings to the woman.

Dec. 1
Shying from the spotlight
4:52 a.m. — 600 block of Emerald Harbor Drive. Suspicious Circumstance. A woman reported that a suspicious boater had been traveling slowly up the canal and appeared to be shining a light on other boats on the davits along the canal. An officer believes he saw the boat further south, but its operator continued into the bay when the officer shined his spotlight on him.

Damage is done
3:56 p.m. — 200 block of Sands Point Road. Property Damage. An unknown person backed into a woman’s car, causing damage to the rear bumper. She parked the vehicle in the morning at a hotel and discovered the damage when she returned to the vehicle eight hours later. Police found no debris on the ground near the vehicle, which indicated that the damage took place in the hotel lot.

Dec. 2
Karma drama
9:58 a.m. — 600 block of Sutton Place. Civil Disturbance. A Sarasota couple got in a dispute with a Longboat Key woman concerning the removal of cabinets from the woman’s home. The Key woman said the Sarasota woman threatened to break her hip. The Sarasota woman had already told police she hopes the Key woman breaks her hip and said she was not threatening the other woman but does believe in karma.

Dec. 3
Caught in the drift
9:31 a.m. — 700 block of Emerald Harbor Drive. Suspicious Circumstance. A man’s boat disappeared from the lift with the keys inside. A civilian noticed the boat adrift and contacted the Coast Guard. Police believe the boat was carried away by the tide and current.

Close cut
2:25 p.m. — 500 block of Reclinata Drive. Code Enforcement. A man reported illegal mangrove trimming. Employees of the landscaping company said they were just trimming the trees around the house. Police didn’t see any violation.

Firework fizzle
4:54 p.m. — 6500 block of Bayou Hammock Road. Fireworks. A woman said her nephews had set off bottle rockets. She didn’t know fireworks were illegal to discharge and will not allow her nephews to set them off again.