Submitted by
Deborah Lavery Powers
The following are highlights from some recent narrative police reports on file at the Fernandina Beach Police Department.
It was about midnight when our City officers helped County deputies locate a man on a bicycle suspected of domestic violence. The man was found peddling down a sidewalk on Centre Street. He had to be physically removed from his bike because he felt Police didn’t have “probable cause” to stop him. During the booking process, it was discovered that the Bicyclist is suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, currently off his meds and mentally unstable. The Deputies and Officers decided it was more appropriate for the man to be “mentally treated than to be criminally charged.”
Victim waited three days to report his Beretta .40 caliber handgun had been stolen out of his truck. Why so long? Because he goes to school in Jacksonville and couldn’t miss classes in order to come to Police Headquarters to make out a report. Since the truck showed no evidence of forced entry, Victim thinks he must have left his truck unlocked. And, yes, the gun had been left inside the console of the unlocked truck.
When her boss called the clerk and asked how things were going at the store, the clerk responded, “Terrible.” It turns out she was talking about $2301.77 worth of terrible. The clerk had lost (or perhaps stolen) a bank deposit in that amount. It disappeared somewhere between the front door of the store and the bank’s parking lot. The clerk denies stealing it and thinks she must have dropped it. She stated she “screwed up” and “was so sorry.”
Victim was notified by Capital One Bank that someone had opened a credit card account with their bank using her name, date of birth and Social Security number. The address provided was for the same building – but not the same apartment – where Victim once lived in Orlando.
Suspect is still unidentified, but she left a local grocery store in a suspicious kind of hurry. Video footage, when reviewed, showed her to be a heavy set woman with blonde hair, and a large tattoo on her left shoulder. She was video’d putting about six packs of Crest teeth whitening strips in her purse.
A vehicle was stopped at a convenience store because the car appeared to be one that had just left the scene of a fight at Seaside Park. One of the occupants who was asked for his ID and if he had any warrants open on him, answered yes, he did — in Arkansas — for Parole Violation. He was soon on his way to the Nassau County Detention Detention for extradition.
He was charged with shoplifting $46.27 in steaks, and She of stealing $11.52 in items that she was either eating (a salad) or had hidden in her purse. While She was being questioned by Police, He was slipping the steaks out of the back waistband of his pants and putting them on the floor by the register.
Regarding one other shoplifting. This one at a boutique. Five items went into the dressing room, but only three came out. Hangers for the remaining two items were tucked under a chair in the dressing room. The thief was driving away in a Jeep Liberty with out-of-state license plates on it by the time the store employee was able to get out to the parking lot.
The victim didn’t report the theft of his car trailer (valued at $1500) for more than two days after its disappearance because he thought “maybe a friend may had taken it.”
A friend hadn’t.
Thirteen years later a Fernandina-born man was picked up at a traffic stop here in town and discovered to have a Writ of Attachment issued on him in Chicago in January 2000 . He was reported to be wearing a “blue dress suit” when arrested at 11 in the morning.
He identified himself as “Richard Hunt” and told the victim during a telephone conversation that she was eligible for a $1800 loan. All she needed to do was provide him with a pre-paid credit card number for Security purposes. She purchased the pre-paid card, not only the one for $103, but also two more, as later requested — for $104 and $112, respectively. Then wired an additional $207 to another person by the name of “Sheria Pittman.” The end of the story — for now, anyway? Mr. “Richard” is $626 richer. The victim is $626 poorer. And she has no $1800 loan to show for it.
The suspect couldn’t find anything to blow his nose on in the booking room and became enraged and started shouting profanities at the officer. His anger escalated as the officer tried multiple times to get him to sit down. He ended up spitting at the officer and blowing his nose all over the officer’s arm and chest before complying with the officer’s commands. He was then moved to the holding cell.
Two sisters were booked on a Battery-Domestic offense. One sister was heard to say in the booking room that she was glad they had been arrested because maybe they ‘would get the help they needed to stop fighting,” and Sister “could get help with her substance abuse problems.”
A visitor from England spent the evening drinking at a local bar, then took a taxi to his hotel. The next morning he noticed his wallet was missing. Didn’t have a clue where he lost it — but he did know it contained about $150-American, and 60 Euros. Along with three credit cards.
She saw the Jacksonville property listed on Craigslist. After several emails, telephone calls and texts back and forth with the supposed owner, she wired him $700 to rent the property. But, alas, no promised key arrived in the mail — and all her subsequent telephone calls went directly to Voice Mail. $700 gone.
Three out-of-town construction workers rented a townhome near the beach for a month. But the three didn’t stay their “short term” 31 days. At the end of 15, one left in handcuffs and the other two found a note on their front door telling them to vacate by the ‘morrow. It seems that just prior to noon on Day #15, one of the three was knocking on a neighbor’s door asking her to call 911 because his housemate had a gun and had already injured him (dislocated his shoulder). The Suspect was reportedly still inside the townhome, armed with a pistol. Responding police felt that tactical vests and patrol rifles were called for. And, apparently, with good reason. The Suspect, when he finally obeyed commands to come out onto the townhome deck, was found to have a Sag Sauer “Mosquito” semi-automatic pistol in his back pocket — with the hammer back and “the safety in fire position.” And “a live .22 caliber cartridge chambered in the firearm.” Later, a recently used “projecticle” from the pistol was found lodged inside the back panel of the refrigerator! At the end of the day, Suspect was arrested for “aggravated assault, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and possession of a firearm while intoxicated.”
Editor’s Note: After a career in adult education, where writing, course design and development were her “beat”, Deborah is now enjoying the world of freelancing. And volunteering. We thank Deborah for her contributions.
March 27, 2013 5:39 p.m.