- April 18, 2024
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Monday, Jan. 27.
Honesty's the best policy
9:22 p.m. 1000 block of Grady Prather Jr. Cove. Narcotics.
A deputy on patrol noticed a pickup truck and car parked next to each other in a closed park, so he decided to investigate. Upon nearing the truck, its driver exited the vehicle and began approaching him.
The deputy noticed a woman in the truck’s passenger seat and ordered the man to return to the vehicle.
The driver agreed to let the officer search the truck for drugs or weapons, and it didn’t take him long to find the glass pipe and prescription bottle filled with a “green leafy substance” in the cup holder.
When the deputy asked why the driver lied about the "green, leafy substance," the driver said, “I am sorry sir, I should have been honest with you.”
The deputy handcuffed the man and field-tested the green stuff, which the test indicated was probably marijuana.
The deputy asked the man if he wanted to chat about where he’d gotten the pot, and the man respectfully declined.
Tuesday, Jan. 28.
Don't leave your butts on the bus
12:30 p.m. First block of Office Park Drive. Property damage.
The manager of a group home opened the door to the home’s transport van but realized someone had made it there first — and made a mess.
An intruder had broken the shifter and left it hanging from the console, ripped off parts of the dashboard and left them strewn around the van, and ripped out and cut the wiring of the steering column. The van’s license plate was stolen, but the vandal or vandals left the rest of the vehicle’ exterior alone.
A deputy who checked out the van noticed no pry marks or other signs of forced entry on the doors, which were locked, and couldn’t dust for fingerprints or get a DNA sample because so many people use the bus regularly.
But there was a clue: a Marlboro cigarette butt with pink lipstick marks on it. No smoking is allowed on the van. The deputy took the cigarette butt as evidence.
Wednesday, Jan. 29.
The bearded review
7:52 p.m. Belle Terre Parkway and Bird of Paradise Drive. Burglary attempt.
A woman called the Sheriff’s Office from her car when a bearded man wearing a sweatshirt and denim shirt, and carrying a backpack, banged on the window and tried to force his way inside while she was stopped at a light.
A deputy drove out to the area and noticed a man who matched that description walking along Belle Terre Parkway.
The deputy pulled up behind the man, pointed a stoplight at him and asked him to please stop walking. The man ignored the deputy. The deputy tried again, and the man turned around and yelled “No!” and continued walking away. The deputy made another attempt and got the same reply, then called the woman who’d reported the crime.
The woman confirmed the man's description and said she’d like to press charges. She said he’d approached the passenger car and yanked on the handle then started banging on the window. She said she’d sped off, afraid for her life.
The deputy decided the woman’s report provided reasonable suspicion to detain the bearded man.
Another deputy arrived and got in front of the man, ordering him to stop. Finally, the man did, yelling as deputies arrested him for resisting without violence. The man had a Texas driver’s license.
When the deputies asked him what his intentions had been, he said he hadn’t touched the car or tried to get inside. He just tried to get the woman’s attention to ask for directions, he said.
After that, he became combative and started shouting profanities.
The deputies charged the man with resisting an officer without violence and with attempted burglary of an occupied conveyance, and took him to jail.
Friday, Jan. 31
Lost but not leased
3:20 a.m. First block of Renshaw Drive. Car break-in.
A woman was in her garage when she heard what sounded like her car door closing outside.
Outside, she saw a man — wearing dark clothes and a baseball cap — sitting in her boyfriend’s car, which had been left unlocked.
The boyfriend walked outside and confronted the intruder, asking him what he was doing.
The man said “I’m lost,” then walked to a gray car parked across the street and drove away with the lights off.
Nothing was stolen. Deputies checked for the suspect’s car — the boyfriend thought it might be a Kia or a Mitsubishi — but didn’t find it.
Saturday, Feb. 1
I want to ride my bicycle
7:30 p.m. 200 block of Cypress Point Parkway. Larceny shoplifting.
A loss-prevention officer at a local big-box store saw a man enter the store’s sporting goods section and pick out a bike lock and a mountain bike, and then walk out without paying.
She followed him, stopping him outside the store, and she brought him back inside.
He said he was homeless and couldn’t pay for the bike.
The officer searched him and also found a bicycle light kit and two bottles of Arizona Tea.
She contacted the Sheriff’s Office, and they ran the man’s name through a criminal database. He had an active St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office warrant for failure to appear.
The thief was arrested, taken to the jail and was given bond for $250. The total value of the stolen items, tea included, was $126.89.
Getting smashed
1:15 p.m. First block of Pine Cone Drive. Commercial burglary.
A man flagged down a deputy and said the front door of his business, a pharmacy, had been smashed out.
Deputies established a perimeter and used a police dog to clear the building. It was empty.
The pharmacy’s owner, checking the building, at first didn’t see anything missing. But then he checked the surveillance tapes.
At 11:35 p.m., the tape showed, two white guys — one wearing a ski mask, the other wearing glasses, and both wearing hoodies and gloves — smashing out the glass panels on the door and walking inside, where they filled a box with prescription containers. They left through the front door.
The pharmacy owner wasn’t sure exactly what drugs had been stolen, but he did know the drugs were a controlled substance.
St. Johns County Sheriff’s deputies, in town investigating an armed robbery involving Palm Coast residents, reviewed the surveillance tape and said the men on the tape might be their suspects.
The pharmacy’s owner is reviewing inventory to determine exactly what was stolen.
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