Cops Corner: East County

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

Nov. 4
smooth operator
2:27 p.m. — 2900 block of 53rd Avenue E. Theft. A woman entered a department store and placed paint, shaving cream and a wallet in her cart. She also carried a green shopping bag, which was empty. The woman paid for the wallet, but left the store without paying for the other items. Staff spotted her and called her back into the store. She was arrested.

Nov. 13
Inside job
2:07 p.m. — 8000 block of Royal Birkdale Circle. Burglary. A 23-year-old man was arrested for burglarizing a home where he had been hired to hang Christmas lights. His fellow workers saw him break into the residence through a window and steal a computer and prescription pills. The workers confronted the man about it, and he fled on foot. Deputies located the man, a repeat offender, a short time later and arrested him.

The Road Not Taken
3:05 p.m. — 6000 block of Hog Town Lane. Civil Dispute. A woman complained that her neighbor drives across a dirt road on the west side of her property to access his own property. She believes he does not have the right to use the road. The woman could not produce any document that says the road belongs to her. The responding deputy told the woman to contact an attorney.

Nov. 14
Lost call
3:22 p.m. — 5500 block of Lakewood Ranch Boulevard. Theft. A woman reported her daughter’s cellphone was stolen while she was at school. The phone had been inside the girl’s backpack.

Connecting the dots
4:29 p.m. — 2800 block of University Parkway. Burglary. A woman parked her car outside a business. She entered the business for five minutes and left her front windows open. When she exited the business, she saw a man wearing a camouflage jacket walking nearby. The man got into a white pickup truck with an unknown company logo on its side. She then noticed her backpack, which was sitting on the front passenger seat of her vehicle, was unzipped. She also noticed her wallet was missing. The wallet had been hidden under a sweatshirt. The woman did not see the man in the jacket enter her vehicle. She thought his behavior was suspicious. Stolen items valued at $20.

Just a spoonful of …
9:48 p.m. — 100 block of Upper Manatee River Road. Drug Use. A deputy recognized a man from a previous drug arrest. The deputy ran the tag on the man’s vehicle, which confirmed the driver’s license was not valid. The deputy stopped the man and asked for a driver’s license and registration. The man could not provide a license. He was arrested without incident. Later, the deputy found a white sock with drug paraphernalia inside the driver’s vehicle. The sock contained one silver spoon, three black plastic spoons with white residue on them and eight syringes.