Cops Corner: East County

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

March 21
HATS OFF
10:30 a.m. — 5800 block of Ranch Lake Boulevard. Petit Theft. The defendant selected a hat and three items of clothing and proceeded to the fitting room. When the defendant exited the fitting room, the clothes were in his hand and the hat was on his head, without the price tag, which had been removed. The defendant paid for the clothes and exited the store without paying for the hat. The defendant told store security he forgot to pay for the hat. The defendant stated he had been arrested in December and served time. Store security said the defendant had been caught shoplifting in Tampa, and Walmart wished to prosecute. The defendant was arrested and transported to jail.

FRAUDULENT FORMULA
2:44 p.m. — 2900 block of 53rd Avenue East. Petit/Grand Theft. A sworn affidavit of loss prevention stated the defendant had concealed items and then walked to the front of the store, passing all points of sale. The defendant then exited the store without paying for the concealed items, which were valued at $542.88. Loss prevention approached the defendant and escorted her to the office where the sheriff’s office had been called. She was arrested and transported to jail. A search revealed two white pills identified as Hydromorphone. Post Miranda, the suspect said she was stealing the formula from Walmart for her child. She stated the two pills belonged to her and the syringes belonged to her brother. She stated she got the pills from friends because she wanted to try them.

IDENTITY DILEMMA
3:35 p.m. — 1400 block of State Road 70 East. Identity Theft. The victim reported someone had filed her tax return for this year.

March 20
CART CONUMDRUM
10:27 a.m. — 6600 block of River Club Boulevard. Petit Theft. The victim reported his Kindle computer tablet was stolen, while he was working at the River Club. The victim believes he left the tablet on a golf cart, and an unknown person took the device. The tablet was valued at $235 with the nylon case. The victim provided the serial number of the item and states Amazon.com may be able to track the location of the tablet by GPS.

March 23
COMPUTER KICK
2:14 p.m. — 6300 block of Rose Rush Court. Vehicle Burglary. Unknown persons entered the victim’s locked vehicle after pulling the passenger door lock and picking the door. Person(s) tried to steal the radio, but broke the faceplate off and left it lying in the center console area. Subject(s) removed a computer backpack containing a laptop with about $10,000 worth of copyrighted computer software programs installed, a notebook computer, a computer disk drive reader and eight thumb drives.

RUMMAGING RASCAL
2:54 p.m. — 12300 block of Hollybush Terrace. Burglary to Unoccupied Conveyance Unarmed. Unknown suspect(s) entered the vehicle through the unlocked driver’s door. While inside, the suspect(s) went through the vehicle but did not take any items.

View East Co. Cops Report 03.28.13 in a larger map