Submitted by Deborah Lavery Powers
Staff Reporter
The following are highlights from some recent narrative police reports on file at the Fernandina Beach Police Department.
The store was broken into and coins worth some $5000-$6000 were stolen. There was no video of the burglary. The surveillance camera hadn’t been reset after a recent power outage. However, latent fingerprints were found on the broken glass from the display case.
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Video footage helped Police make a preliminary identification of Masked Thief who broke into a local laundromat and made away with approximately $160 in quarters. Thief, who was wearing a ghost style mask “most of the time he was committing the crime,” chose to use a tire iron and a large concrete block to break into the laundromat’s coin machine. Masked Thief will be located and served.
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Nervous Young Man, of the same description and age as Masked Thief mentioned above, made a small purchase at a local shop, paying with quarters that he pulled out of a large ziplock bag full of 25-cent-coins. He fled before being caught.
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A large plastic shrimp — valued at $1000 — was “broken off at its base” and landed on its side on the boardwalk in front of Brett’s. (See photo to left) It is not known how the shrimp managed to be damaged or if it can be repaired.
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One log splitter was stolen — along with its chain and lock — but its small tow dolly “was left behind.” As were two other log splitters. Foot prints and tire marks were “taken at the scene.”
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It was almost midnight when Young Man tried to hide “several plastic bags and a cigar bag” in the grooves of a picnic table as he saw Police approaching. Young Man didn’t know what Police were “speaking about” when they asked what he was hiding. Nevertheless, Young Man agreed to be patted down. Several soft bags were felt in his pockets. Young Man claimed they were bags of cough drops. Not exactly. He did have a Halls cough drop bag in his pocket — but it contained three bags of marijuana instead of any Hall’s product. Young Man then claimed his friend had paid a $30 loan back in marijuana rather than cash. Young Man added that he had been sitting at the picnic table for about 30 minutes and was about to “roll a blunt.” [And yeah, I had to google the word ‘blunt,” too.] Young Man was arrested.
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Trying to be assist Friend didn’t turn out too well for Helpful. Helpful loaned his extra vehicle to Friend a month ago, and now Friend won’t return it. Or answer Helpful’s calls. And now Friend’s cell is “out of service.” Helpful was told this matter is a civil issue and was advised by Police to contact a local attorney for, yes, help!
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Wrong Way was stopped for driving the incorrect direction on a one-way street. But that wasn’t his only problem. Wrong Way didn’t have a driver’s license. And worse yet, in an inventory of the car before it was towed away, a “large amount of money” was located inside the vehicle. How large, the Police Report didn’t say.
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Boyfriend is 22, Girlfriend, 19. They climbed onto a private condominium-owned pier. — in spite of seeing “multiple” No Trespassing signs posted. And, yep, they were drinking. Boyfriend, Jagermeister, Girlfriend, Bud Light. And, yep, they were both transported to the Nassau County Jail. Both charged with trespassing. Boyfriend on the additional charge of “providing/allowing a person under 21 to consume alcohol.” Girlfriend on the additional charge of “underage possession of alcohol.” But… Police didn’t charge them with illegal parking at a beach access after midnight — which is what had Police searching for them on the beach in the first place.
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“Oh, you are a big police officer but I am not leaving this bar.” He did! The charges? “Trespass After Warning and Disorderly Intoxication.”
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Arrestee allegedly shoved Victim down, kicked her in the arm and then threw a beer can at her. In front of a witness. At about 3 in the afternoon. Arrestee denied it. Victim had bruises consistent with battery. Arrestee, Victim and Witness had been drinking. Even though Victim didn’t want to press charges, Arrestee was booked and taken to Nassau County Jail.
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Employee was video’d on 8 separate occasions taking merchandise from his employer’s store without paying for it. He advised Police that he had been selling the stolen items to “people in the community” (names unknown) to help pay for his rent and car insurance. Twenty-two DVD’s, 7 pairs of jeans and 1 flash drive. $538.
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Driving a Chevy van on the beach in a banned area — even at 7:57 in the morning — might end up with the van “stuck in the sand,” to the point of requiring a tow truck to get it out. Which might mean a Police Officer sees what is happening. And one did. Under-Twenty-One-Driver was issued a civil citation. $75.00.
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The man called himself “Gary Richards” and told Citizen that he was phoning from the State Attorney’s Office in California and there was a warrant out for her arrest due to a bad debt. [Shades of Debtors Prison?] “Richards” went on to say that the only way to cancel the warrant was to purchase a Green Dot card, put $204 on it, and then call him back, telling him the pin number on the back of the card. Citizen followed instructions. But the story didn’t end there. A week later, “Richards” called back, harassing Citizen because there was no money on the card, telling her to “pay the money again.” Citizen told Police she “then realized this might be a scam.”
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Possible Suspect is now considered a Person of Interest, rather than a Possible, after Victim, who had claimed she had been raped, said she didn’t recognize Possible as the man who attacked her when he was pointed out to her. This in spite of the fact that Possible was identified by others as being the person Victim was walking toward the exterior back of the Bar with just prior to the alleged Sexual Battery. Possible was further identified as the man who sped away from the area at a high rate of speed immediately thereafter.
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Person of Interest, noted above, was stopped and arrested for Reckless Driving within minutes after leaving the downtown bar area due to his (1) traveling the wrong way on a one-way street, and (2) going through the intersection of Ash and 6th Street at about 60 mph. Reckless Driver went off to the Nassau County Jail.
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Editor’s Note: After a career in adult education, where writing, course design and development were her “beat”, Deborah now enjoys the world of freelancing, and volunteering. Deborah covers the police beat for the Fernandina Observer writing weekly “Police blotter blasts . . .” We thank Deborah for her many contributions.
May 2, 2013 09:54 p.m.