Cops Corner: Longboat Key 2.11.16

JAN. 27

LOADED THREAT

3:56 a.m. — 500 block of Ketch Lane

Suspicious Circumstance: A man told police he refused to pay a taxi fare to a cab driver who has driven him home several times from a bar in Sarasota. The man reported the driver kept picking up other riders downtown, resulting in him not getting back to the Key for two-and-a-half hours. The man told police the driver smashed the beer he purchased on his driveway when he refused to pay. The driver later called him and threatened to “be back with his boys…to shoot up your house with AK-47s.” Police left a message with the driver and attempted to locate the cab through the license plate camera recognition system.

SUNKEN VESSEL

10:54 a.m. — 500 block of Ed Lee Lane

Boat: Code enforcement was advised of a sunken boat with its mast still sticking out above water. The sunken boat is near a boat ramp and is not a hazard to navigation.

JAN. 28

REPAIR RIP-OFF

3:23 p.m. — 3600 block of GMD

Disturbance: A woman said a Tampa repair shop charged her $509.75 to repair her TV in December. When it stopped working again in January, the company picked it up, and now she can’t get a hold of the company. Police also were unable to reach the company and told her it was a civil matter.

READY FOR ITS CLOSE-UP

9:41 p.m. — 1600 block of GMD

Trespassing: Police located a pickup truck parked in front of the shuttered Colony Beach & Tennis Resort. Two men were found sitting outside a building on the southwest portion of the property near the tennis courts. They told police they crawled under the fence to film a short movie on the complex for an upcoming film festival. They thought it was a great film location when they saw the site from the beach. The men were arrested for trespassing, and their film equipment was confiscated.

JAN. 30

SAFE SANCTUARY

10:23 a.m. — 4280 GMD

Alarm: A church alarm went off, and police found a rear door closed but unlocked. Nothing in the church was disturbed.

JAN. 31

MUD RUN

3:27 a.m. — Intersection of Penfield and General Harris streets

Suspicious Vehicle: A man got his truck stuck in the mud. He was able to get out, but the right-of-way lawn was severely damaged. Police provided homeowners a case number to help them collect money to repair their lawn. Police noticed fresh injuries to the truck owner’s face. He told police he had a confrontation with his wife and was on probation for theft. He was checked for warrants and advised to leave.

FEB. 1

STALKER SYNDROME

2:57 a.m. — Intersection of Bogey Lane and Golf Links Lane

Suspicious Person: Police saw a driver pull off the road and drive to the end of a street with the headlights turned off on the vehicle. The two women in the car ducked down when police drove by and then told police they were waiting to pick up a girlfriend from her private nurse duty assignment. Police told them to wait at a nearby gas station when they said they didn’t have an address yet. Police later confirmed that the home they were parked in front of is the workplace of one of the women’s former girlfriend. The ex-girlfriend, who is a private-duty nurse, told police her former girlfriend is stalking her. Police gave her instructions on obtaining a restraining order.