Mailbox vandalism spree hits Lakeland

The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office reported a spree of mailbox and car vandalism in Lakeland for July, along with other crimes.

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 more detailed BPD reports.

July 1

• Mackwood Drive (misdemeanor vandalism): Someone knocked the passenger-side mirror ($300) off a man’s company vehicle on the 10100 block of Mackwood Drive and used a blunt object to bash the vehicle. The victim said the vandalism happened between 11 p.m. June 30 and 7 a.m. July 1. The vehicle was parked facing east on Mackwood Drive with its passenger side to the curb. Another victim flagged down the responding officer for a separate vandalism incident while he was still on scene.

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  Mackwood Drive (misdemeanor vandalism): Someone bashed a black Fulton Corp. mailbox ($150) on the 10100 block of Mackwood Drive between 10 p.m. June 30 and 8 a.m. July 1. The damage included a large dent on the mailbox’s right side. The officer noted that another mailbox next door was also damaged, but no complainant was available to file a report.

• Mitchwood Oak Drive (felony vandalism): Someone dented the hood of a resident’s car ($1,200) and knocked off one of its side mirrors ($600) on the 4600 block of Mitchwood Oak Drive, which is near the vandalism reported on Mackwood Drive. The victim said the damage occurred between 10:15 p.m. June 30 and 7:15 a.m. July 1. Another victim flagged down the responding officer for a separate incident while he was still on scene.
• Mitchwood Oak Drive (theft from motor vehicle): Someone stole golf gear from a Ford Expedition parked in the driveway on the 4600 block of Mitchwood Oak Drive. The victim said she borrowed the SUV from a friend for a trip and she thought it was locked, but the responding officer saw no signs of forced entry. The theft occurred between 9 p.m. June 20 and 5:30 a.m. June 21 when the victim found the rear hatch was open. She didn’t realize items were missing until later, and the theft was reported on July 1. Items stolen included a Titleist golf club set in a red bag ($2,000), a Titleist golf club set in a gray bag ($2,500), and a Bushnell Rangefinder ($250).

July 2

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  Beowulf Glade Cove (theft from building): A man who lives on the 3100 block of Beowulf Glade Cove reported on July 2 that his grandson confessed to stealing his TV to pay off a debt to a drug dealer. The grandson was living with his grandparents at the time of the theft. The victim said he woke up about half an hour after midnight on July 2, and he heard his wife and his grandson outside on the front porch talking. When he woke, his JVC television was gone. He confronted his grandson, who confessed, told him to “call the cops” and then left the scene before officers arrived.

July 4

• Ravenwood Oak Drive (felony vandalism): Someone broke a window ($250) of a vehicle parked on the street in the 4400 block of Ravenwood Oak Drive between 10 p.m. July 3 and 10 a.m. July 4. The victim said nothing appeared to be missing from the vehicle, and she couldn’t think of any suspects.

July 5

• Chalmette Drive (residential burglary): A builder reported that someone entered through a side window and stole building supplies from a home under construction on the 4200 block of Chalmette Drive. Items stolen between 5 p.m. July 4 and 7 a.m. July 5 included granite countertops ($3,500), white cabinets ($10,000), a Vent-A-Hood ($1,000) and a cooktop ($2,500). A neighbor said he saw a suspicious white man about six feet tall standing on the fence and possible casing the home two days before the theft.

July 8

• Daly Drive (theft from motor vehicle): On July 8, an officer went to an address on the 9500 block of Daly Drive because of theft suspicions that arose during a traffic stop. He had found two credit cards belonging to one man on the car floorboards of a vehicle driven by another man. The officer contacted the victim, who said his wallet and keys were missing from his vehicle, and the driver’s side door lock had been punched. Five suspects were in the vehicle detained during the traffic stop, and their car contained numerous pairs of gloves, burglary tools and personal items that did not belong to them. They uncovered a theft from another victim’s vehicle while on scene.
• Daly Drive (theft from motor vehicle): While investigating another vehicle theft nearby about 4:30 a.m. July 8, officers saw a second victim’s vehicle on the 9500 block of Daly Drive had a door ajar and the glove compartment’s contents strewn about the vehicle. They alerted the owner, who said it must have happened since 10 p.m. the preceding night. The only item missing was his wife’s prescription bottle of hydrocodone.
• Contiwood Cove (theft from motor vehicle): At a traffic stop on Contiwood Cove on July 8, patrol officers had five suspects in custody for multiple thefts from vehicles (see the preceding two reports), and they called out two detectives to assist. One of the suspects volunteered to show several of the cars they had broken into. He took the detectives to a ransacked Jeep Cherokee on the 9600 block of Daly Drive. The owner said he left the vehicle unlocked, but he didn’t think any property was missing.

July 10

• Wren Hill Drive (misdemeanor vandalism): Someone smashed a mailbox on the 9200 block of Wren Hill Drive between 11 p.m. July 9 and 10:30 a.m. July 10. The victim said it looked like it was hit with a hammer, and the mailbox was dented and hard to open.
• Ultragreen Lane (misdemeanor vandalism): Someone smashed a T-shaped dent into a vanity mailbox ($70) on the 3000 block of Ultragreen Lane between 10:15 p.m. July 9 and 4 p.m. July 10. The metal mailbox has a cow-print pattern.
• Fir Hill Drive East (misdemeanor vandalism): Officers responded on July 10 to a misdemeanor vandalism report on the 4000 block of Fir Hill Drive East. The victim said someone vandalized his mailbox, possibly with a baseball bat, between 10:30 p.m. July 3 and 10 a.m. July 4. He had repaired the damaged mailbox and replaced the broken red flag ($5) by the time he reported the incident. The responding officer saw several small older dents on the right side of the mailbox.
• Swan Hill Drive (misdemeanor vandalism): Someone dented the right side of a mailbox ($100) on the 4200 block of Swan Hill Drive between 5:30 p.m. July 9 and 5:30 p.m. July 10.
• Creekwood Lane (theft from motor vehicle): Someone stole a Stihl power pole saw ($750) from a truck parked on the 3100 block of Creekwood Lane between 8 p.m. July 9 and 8 a.m. July 10. The victim said the saw was in the bed of his Ford F250, parked in his driveway. He drove to the Raleigh Spring Mall before noticing the saw was missing, but he said he didn’t leave the vehicle unattended there.

July 13

• Canada Road (burglary of a business): An officer responded to a burglary call at a business on the 2900 block of Canada Road around 10:46 p.m. July 13, and he noticed that the front door lock was pried off. The complainant arrived and checked the surveillance system, but he didn’t see anyone making entry.

July 15

• Cedar Point Road (theft of watercraft): Someone stole a tan Hobie kayak ($3,500) from the back dock of a home on the 4000 block of Cedar Point Road between 11:30 a.m. July 7 and 1:35 p.m. July 15. An officer entered the kayak’s information into the National Crime Information Center’s (NCIC’s) database.

July 18

• Leeward Slopes (misdemeanor vandalism): Someone vandalized a gutter to a home’s roof on the 9600 block of Leeward Slopes between 11 p.m. July 17 and 6 a.m. July 18. That morning, the victim saw a partial footprint on her vehicle’s hood and then noticed her gutter was pulled down ($150). She said no one entered the home or did any other property damage.

July 19

• Kingsridge Drive (misdemeanor vandalism): Someone hit a mailbox on the 9500 block of Kingsridge Road between 9 p.m. July 18 and 11:30 a.m. July 19.

July 20

• Canada Road (other theft/non-specific): A businessman reported on July 20 that six storm drains were missing from the back of his building on the 3600 block of Canada Road. When he reviewed his security camera, he saw a white man in a white truck picking up the storm drains around 7:10 a.m. that morning. Then the suspect came inside and bought an item. The businessman said the pickup came from the Super 8 motel (9779 Huff n Puff) that morning and has not been seen since then. An employee at the motel identified the vehicle as leaving the lot and heading to the Shell gas station on Canada Road. The employee said he would contact his employer to locate identifying information on that motel guest.

July 21

• Canada Road (burglary of a business): Someone broke into the abandoned Factory Outlet Mall on the 3500 block of Canada Road overnight on July 20 or early on July 21, vandalizing the structure and leaving packing material strewn through the parking lot. The complainant found a pried-open door on the mall’s south side and discovered the parking lot debris when he arrived at work that morning. He didn’t call officers right away until he thought he heard someone still inside. Deputies cleared the mall and observed the damages, including front windows ($4,000) broken with a fire extinguisher, smashed fluorescent light bulbs hear the south side door, and a crushed architectural model of the mall’s future development (more than $1,000). The complainant said nothing appeared to be missing, and the mall door was secured before deputies left. A deputy was able to lift three fingerprints off the fire extinguisher.

July 22

• Canada Road (felony vandalism): The Factory Outlet Mall manager reported that someone broke a window near the mall’s main entrance sometime between 3:32 a.m. and 5:18 a.m. on July 22. The security officer found the window broken and a piece of metal lying on the floor inside. The responding officers also noticed other damage to the building, but the complainant said someone vandalized it previously on July 21.
• Lighthouse Lane (felony vandalism): Someone vandalized a blue Smart compact car on the 3700 block of Lighthouse Lane between 1:30 a.m. and 6 a.m. on July 22. Someone broke out the driver’s side and passenger’s side windows, but officers didn’t see any disturbance inside the vehicle, and the victim’s purse was still lying on the floorboard. She said nothing was stolen.
• Kingsridge Drive (felony vandalism): A man reported on July 22 that someone broke the rear window and the driver’s side front window of his girlfriend’s Kia Soul while it was parked overnight in his driveway on the 9800 block of Kingsridge Drive. The car’s owner was out of town. The vandalism happened between 11 p.m. July 21 and about 7:15 a.m. July 22.
• Chambers Chapel Road (theft of other trailer): Someone stole a utility trailer from the front yard of a home on the 4600 block of Chambers Chapel Road between 5 p.m. July 17 and the afternoon of July 22. The victim said the trailer is black with a metal tubing frame, two Top Hat stickers on each side of the trailer’s tongue, and a customized tailgate that hinges in the middle to fold down. He said he thought that a family member or friend might have borrowed it, but it had not yet been returned.

July 23

• Triumph Circle (theft from building): A victim on the 9300 block of Triumph Circle reported on July 23 that someone had stolen a pistol from his home. The pistol is a Norinco .45-caliber handgun with brown grips and a fully loaded magazine ($500), and it was in a black holster ($50). Because the owner didn’t know the pistol’s serial number, the responding officer could not list it as stolen in NCIC. The theft occurred between 9 p.m. July 19 and 8 a.m. July 20. The owner had company visiting on July 19 but declined to list anyone as a suspect. The responding officer could not process the crime scene because the victim called in the report from his workplace instead of from the location where the crime occurred.
• Loch Meade Drive (aggravated assault): See our related story on this July 23 crime.
• Kingsridge Drive (theft of other trailer): A victim reported on July 24 that someone stole a trailer full of yard equipment overnight from his driveway on the 9600 block of Kingsridge Drive. Two other vehicles blocked the trailer in, so the suspect had to pull the trailer by hand onto the street before he could hook up and drive away. The trailer was black with a drop-down tailgate, and it carried two lawnmowers, a weed trimmer, leaf blower, gas cans and tie down straps. The victim couldn’t provide any serial numbers, so the responding officer could not list the stolen property in the NCIC database.
• Knob Hill Road (misdemeanor vandalism): A property manager and neighborhood watch captain reported vandalism July 24 at a complex on the 3000 block of Knob Hill Road. She first saw four white male youths sitting in a silver Lexus beside rental garage No. 108 around 4:35 p.m. She left and returned about five minutes later, and the boys were still there. She wrote down the license plate number before they drove off, but she didn’t see the suspects well enough to identify them. Then she walked behind the garage and discovered that someone had spray-painted a two-foot penis on the back of the garage. She said the complex’s maintenance staff would repaint.

July 25

• Breezy Shores Cove (theft from building): A woman reported two iPads missing from her home business on the 3800 block of Breezy Shores. She couldn’t find them when she wanted to upgrade her AT&T data plan and distribute them to her new employees. She said a female former employee acted as her bookkeeper, had legal access to the residence in which she worked, and was the last person known to have the iPads. The victim said the suspect had the iPads on June 30, the last date the suspect was employed at the business. The suspect left without notice, has not returned, and has not responded to numerous contact attempts, the victim said. The victim also said she had previously noticed cash missing from the office several times but didn’t want to prosecute on that matter. The victim could not provide the iPads’ serial numbers at the time of the report.

July 26

• Davies Plantation Road (misdemeanor vandalism): A resident who lives near the Stonebridge Golf Club (3049 Davies Plantation Road) reported seeing a young white male and female driving a four-wheel all-terrain vehicle on the club’s greens between 8:30 p.m. and 8:50 p.m. July 26. The suspects drove through a wooden fence near Fletcher Trace and Breckenridge Cove and left before the responding officer arrives. The officer saw that a section of the fence was damaged. The club’s owner said it was too dark to tell if there was any additional damage done to the golfing green.

July 29

• North Fir Hill Drive (misdemeanor vandalism): Someone scratched a Jeep Liberty parked on the street near the owner’s home on the 9200 block of North Fir Hill Drive. The complainant said his son parked the vehicle around 2 p.m. July 27, and the father noticed three scratches on the front driver’s side door and one scratch on the front driver’s side panel around 11:30a.m. July 29.

July 30

• Front Nine Drive (misdemeanor vandalism): Someone broke into a car, damaging the window ($300), on the 9300 block of Front Nine Drive between 7 p.m. July 29 and 5 a.m. July 30. The victim said someone rifled through the glove compartment and the middle console of his 2006 Mitsubishi Eclipse but didn’t take anything because the victim doesn’t keep anything of value in the vehicle. The victim’s 18-year-old son said he might know who is responsible. He has had several problems with possible gang members in the apartment complex, and there have been several previous disturbance calls at that location or in the area.
• Potter Way (burglary of a business): On July 30, a businessman discovered that someone overnight had cut the lock from the Haul Master trailer where he stores tools for his business (ProStall Flooring). He left the trailer on a job site on the 10100 block of Pottery Way around 4:30 p.m. July 29 after inventorying and then locking the trailer. He found the broken lock around 8 a.m. July 30 when he returned to the site. The crime scene tech said there was no workable crime scene because workers on site had contaminated the crime scene.
• Ace Drive (misdemeanor vandalism): A woman noticed at shift change on July 30 that someone had knocked out the passenger side window of D&S Community Services’ van on the 9200 block of Ace Drive. She said nothing was stolen. The vandalism happened between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. July 30.