Cops Corner: East County

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

May 17
 Door buster
5:05 p.m. — 8300 block of Lockwood Ridge Road. Burglary to Convey — Larceny. A man was observed attempting to enter two vehicles in the parking lot of a restaurant. Upon arrival, the deputy saw the suspect open the rear passenger-side door of a green Kia. The owner of both vehicles said they did not know the suspect, and he should not have been in their vehicles. The subject was arrested.

May 21
 Open House
11:58 a.m. — 8200 Waterview Boulevard. Theft $300 to $5,000 from Building. The victim reported an unknown person(s) stole her firearm from her home. The victim hosted an open house. After the open house, the victim’s firearm was not in her home. She asked the Realtor about the firearm, but he had no information about it. The victim did not provide a serial number for the weapon.

May 22
 Credit creators
4:31 p.m. — 5400 University Parkway. Theft $300 to $5,000 — Shoplifting. The couple entered Home Depot via the garden section and began pushing an empty cart into the store. Once inside, they selected buckets of pool chlorine and a pool filter and placed them into the cart. The couple then pushed the cart to the return desk. After directing the woman to the correct part of the return lane, the man walked off. The woman then returned the items as if they belonged to her in exchange for store credit. After the transaction was complete, loss prevention made contact with the woman as she tried to find the man. He was located a short time later driving her car near Lockwood Ridge Road and University Parkway. After custodial interviews, both subjects admitted to the crime and were arrested without incident.

June 15
 Project Problems
6:07 p.m. — 2900 block of 53rd Avenue E. Petit/Grand Theft — Shoplifting. The defendant was in the health and beauty-aids department at a store when security noticed her on store surveillance. She selected items from the shelf, opened the packaging and concealed the package contents in her purse. The defendant then exited the store without paying for the items she concealed. Security stopped her. The value of stolen items amounted to $32.88. The defendant stated she had a school science project due, and she did not have money to purchase items for the project. The defendant was released on a notice to appear.

June 16
 Down the drain
4:16 p.m. — 600 block of 67th Circle E. Found Property. The reporting party works at the address as a maintenance man. About two weeks ago, he found a handgun in the toilet a in a room. The handgun was full of water and placed in the maintenance room by the reporting party. He forgot about it. While on another call at the hotel, the deputy was advised of the found property. The deputy checked to ensure the gun had not been reported stolen and placed it into property and evidence.

June 17
 Furry fighting
5 p.m. — 4600 block of Summer Oak Ave. Information Only. The complainant called to report that she came across a website that showed the listed “involved other” soliciting for the purchase of dogs for dog fighting. She stated that the involved other said he would buy male dogs and consider the female dogs. The website she found was on American bully classifieds and a link could be found on the complainant’s Facebook page. She believes the subject lives in New York, so she called the New York Police Department. They advised her to call her local law enforcement agency.