- May 6, 2024
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Dec. 18
Not what bathrooms are for
1:34 p.m. First block of Wellington Drive. Structure fire.
A 5-year-old boy was using the bathroom in his grandparents’ house when he suddenly “came running out screaming 'fire!'" his grandparents told deputies.
His hair and eyebrows were singed, but he was unharmed, and his grandmother gathered the family and guided hem outside.
Fire personnel extinguished the fire, which had burned only the home’s guest bathroom.
The boy later spoke to his mother and “admitted to playing with a lighter in the bathroom and was lighting items from the trash can on fire,” according to a Sheriff’s Office report. “When the fire got out of control, (the boy) panicked and tried to pour the trash can into the toilet, but the flames spread throughout the bathroom quickly at which time he ran out,” according to the report.
No one was hurt, and the building was deemed livable by the fire marshal.
Dec. 19
Open invitation
12:40 p.m. 5500 block of Belle Terre Parkway. Car break.
A woman told deputies that she’d driven to a fast food restaurant in the 400 block of Palm Coast Parkway SW and walked inside, leaving her her $300 purse sitting in plain view on the front seat of the unlocked car.
The came back after eating and then drove to a local elementary school, where she realized the purse was gone.
But all was not lost: a man found credit cards and miscellaneous items from the woman’s purse in the wood line near the restaurant, and returned them to a manager there.
The purse and $100 in $20 bills was reported as stolen.
Stealing Christmas
11:24 p.m. First block of Smith Trail. Criminal mischief.
For the second night in a row, a Smith Trail resident arrived home from work to find his blow-up yard decorations damaged.
The first time, miscreants had taken sharp object to Mickey Mouse, Tigger and Winnie the Poo; this time it was a blow-up Santa Claus, according to a Sheriff’s Office report.
The man told deputies each of the decorations cost about $70, and said he didn’t now anyone who would want to destroy his.
As the deputy investigated, he saw two teenage boys walking with flashlights. He asked them what they were doing, and they said they’d been in the woods checking their raccoon traps. When he asked if they had any weapons on them, the teens said no, and turned their pockets inside out to prove it. They told deputies they’d seen a strange man in the area wearing a black hooded sweatshirt.
Deputies conducted a neighborhood canvass but couldn’t find the man or anyone else who’d seen him.
