Cops Corner: East County

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

March 13
Scoot to it
2:27 p.m. — 3200 block of 11th Avenue E. Burglary. Unknown person(s) entered a house by prying open a rear door. The person(s) was then seen fleeing the scene riding a black scooter and carrying a large flatscreen television.

March 20
Wine-no
8:23 a.m. — 8500 block of Cooper Creek Boulevard. Fraud. An unknown male tried to buy items at a wine store with a fake Ohio identification that did not match the name on the credit card he provided. The man challenged the name difference and told the clerk he would return to his car and get a different credit card. The man never returned to the store. Allegedly, the same man tried to make similar purchases at wine stores in Fort Myers and St. Petersburg. The credit card he tried to use is stolen.

March 21
Alternative rides
12:25 a.m. — 5400 block of University Parkway. Theft. At least two men driving a white truck took two bicycles from a bike rack that was attached to a vehicle. The men fled in an unknown direction.

Higher-up confrontation
7:32 a.m. — 6200 block of State Road 64. Theft. A department store employee witnessed two men load two shopping carts with items valued at $208.62. The employee followed the men to the front of the store. The men exited without paying for the items. As they left the store, the employee notified the store’s general manager. The two employees exited the store and confronted the two shoplifters. The shoplifters began to run away. One of the men was apprehended, while the other got away.

Identity crisis
3:29 p.m. — 300 block of Cape Harbour Loop. Fraud. Unknown person(s) used somebody else’s personal information and filed for unemployment insurance.

March 22
Pryer case
9:43 a.m. — 9500 block of 284th Street E. Burglary. Unknown person(s) gained entry to a vehicle by prying open a driver’s side door. The person(s) took tools from the backseat of the vehicle and took money from the center console. The person(s) fled.

March 23
with friends like these...
8:19 a.m. — 5800 Garden Lakes Drive. Information Only. A man said a person he knows, whom he refers to as “kinda like a girlfriend,” has used his car on several occasions. The man said he recently was driven to the hospital. When he returned home, the car was gone. He has been out of the hospital for about two weeks but has not been able to contact the woman.

March 24
Printless Passerby
12:30 a.m. — 2800 block of University Parkway. Trespass Warning. A man entered a grocery store and was told to leave because he had trespassed the property. It is unclear what the man had done to be trespassed.