The Bartlett Police Department (BPD) handled the following incidents Jan. 4-10.
This listing includes the most notable incidents for the reporting period and does not necessarily reflect all police activity.
Editor’s note: All suspects are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, and values are estimated for stolen/damaged items. These are brief summaries of detailed BPD reports.
Jan. 4
U.S. 70 (theft from motor vehicle)
Someone stole a mother’s purse from her unlocked car while she was taking her children into Playcare Learning Center (6634 U.S. 70) on Jan. 4. She left the car unattended for about five minutes just before 7 a.m.
The purse ($20) contained a wallet with a driver’s license, three Social Security cards, three birth certificates, a Medicaid card, a Regions debit card, an EBT card, a pen ($10), and $200 in cash. The cards and documents were valued at $100.
Branson Drive (residential burglary)
Someone threw a large rock through a home’s backdoor while the resident ws at work on Jan. 4. The man found nothing missing, but the living room TV had been moved but not unplugged.
Jan. 5
Germantown Road (theft of a motor vehicle and possession of drug paraphernalia)
An officer found a man sleeping in the driver’s seat of a car parked behind a business at 3108 Germantown Road. He was discovered at 1:10 a.m. Jan. 5. The car, a silver 2011 Toyota Camry ($15,000) had been reported stolen in Memphis.
Officers also found a crack pipe under the driver’s seat. The man was arrested and taken to jail.
Jan. 8
South Sungate Drive (vandalism)
Someone pried open the hood of a woman’s car parked in her driveway and did $700 in damages between midnight and 2 a.m. on Jan. 8. In addition to the hood, damages included a cracked turn signal lens, a disconnected brake line and a cut fuel line.
Stage Road (burglary)
The manager of Tina’s Coin Op Laundry (6088 Stage Road) reported a burglary on Jan. 8. Between 9 p.m. Jan. 7 and 8 a.m. Jan. 8, someone tampered with the coin boxes on two washers and two dryers and took about $15 in coins.
Although she hasn’t reported him previously, she said there is a white male customer who has been arriving after midnight, tampering with the coin boxes and destroying the folding tables. She said he rides a bicycle and may have a mental disorder.
Peppercorn Drive (suspicious circumstances memo)
A woman reported getting a suspicious call on Jan. 8 from a man who said he was Sgt. Cruz with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office Warrant Division. The caller claimed her husband had missed jury duty and there was a warrant for his failure to appear.
The caller said her husband had to pay to have the warrant cleared. The woman already knew there was an active ring of phone scammers using this ruse to scam people out of money, so she reported the incident and did not pay the caller.
The responding officer called the provided phone number, and a male identifying himself as a member of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office answered.
The suspect because very nervous when the real officer identified himself. The officer heard the suspect talking with another male in the background, who said, “Just talk to him, dude.”
The suspect hung up and didn’t respond to followup calls when the officer tried to get more information about the alleged warrant.
