The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office handled the following incidents in Lakeland during the first half of October. For later October incidents, see next week’s issue of The Bartlett Express.
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 SCSO reports.
Oct. 3
U.S. 64 (theft from building)
A man lost $40 to an opportunistic thief, he reported on Oct. 3. He was at the Citgo gas station (9108 U.S. 64) and dropped a twenty and two tens from his pocket while trying to pay for something. Another customer reportedly grabbed it and walked away, but the rightful owner blocked the front owner while on the phone with the sheriff’s office.
The suspect left through a side door and walked across the street toward apartments on the other side of U.S. 64. An officer conducted a follow-up on the 2600 block of Berryhill Road.
The store’s surveillance video was operational, and the video of the incident is being saved.
Oct. 4
U.S. 64 (business burglary)
An officer responded to a burglary at 8950 U.S. 64, Suite 116, shortly after 2 a.m. Oct. 4. He saw the door to the sprinkler riser room had been pried open with nothing inside disturbed. The door to the store was damaged but didn’t allow entry. Both doors had the plate covering the lock pried away from the door, and there was damage to the door, door frame and locks.
There were no usable fingerprints at the scene. The store’s rear security camera doesn’t work, but the business next door, Howard’s Donuts, did capture video showing the suspects. They arrived at 1:48 a.m. in a light four-door vehicle, possibly a silver Nissan, with a missing rear passenger side hubcap. The vehicle dropped off two suspects and the left. The suspects left on foot, heading into the field behind the store at 1:57 a.m.
Old Brownsville Road (other theft/non-specific)
A rental property owner reported the theft of a movable fire pit on Oct. 4 and gave officers its current location. He said tenants at a home on the 9100 block of East Old Brownsville Road moved out on Oct. 3, and the fire pit was still there. It was gone by the next day. He found it in the front yard of a couple who had helped the previous tenants move.
The couple were not on scene at the time of the report. The property owner said he planned on having his employees pick up the fire pit. He was advised to contact the Sheriff’s Office so a property release form could be completed.
Barley Mills (misdemeanor vandalism)
The owner of a Nissan Maxima found his driver’s side front window broken around 2 p.m. Oct. 4. It was parked in front of his home on the 9400 block of Barley Mills, and he said the vandalism must have happened sometime after 6 p.m. Oct. 3. The victim didn’t notice anything missing from the Maxima.
Barley Mills (misdemeanor vandalism)
Another resident on the 9400 block of Barley Mills discovered her property was damaged on Oct. 4. She found her water hose damaged on her front porch. The vandalism happened between 6 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. Oct. 4.
Oct. 5
Canada Road (theft from motor vehicle)
A man who left his car unlocked on Canada Road realized it was an open invitation to thieves on Oct. 5.
The victim said they left the Honda Civic at I.H. Managerial Park (4523 Canada Road) around 3 p.m. When he and three others returned around 4 p.m. and realized that these items were missing from the back seat: Cash, a Social Security card and a Nintendo DS. A serial number was not immediately available for the Nintendo DS.
Security footage showed that a black sedan of unknown make or model parked next to the car, went inside it, and then returned to the black sedan and left.
Oct. 6
Lighthouse Lane (misdemeanor vandalism)
A woman reported that the screen on a side window of her home was damaged. The homes is on the 3800 block of Lighthouse Lane.
Oct. 8
Davies Plantation/Canada Road (misdemeanor drugs/narcotics violation)
An officer was checking the area of several motels on Huff N Puff Road near Canada Road because of a recent spike in narcotics-related complaints around 12:30 a.m. Oct. 8, and he saw a black Ford Mustang backed into a parking space. Three females who looked as if they might be juveniles left the passenger side and entered a white Ford Escape.
He stopped the vehicle and found that one of the occupants was a 17-year-old girl. He also smelled the strong odor of marijuana from inside the vehicle. When asked, all the occupants said there were no narcotics in the vehicle or in their possession.
The officer called a female officer to the scene to search the female suspects. While a male occupant was being searched, the female teen pulled a small paper wrapper containing marijuana from her waistband. She said she bought it from her friend, the driver of the black Ford Mustang, for $20.
The substance later tested positive as marijuana and weighed in at 4.4 total gram weight (TGW). She was issued a juvenile summons for violation of the curfew law and possession of a controlled substance.
Oct. 10
El Hill and Blue Bridge (drug equipment violation)
Patrolling officers spotted a suspicious red Ford 150 near the dead end of the roadway and made contact. They smelled marijuana coming from the vehicle, made the people get out and searched the vehicle. They found a glass pipe with marijuana residue in the back seat. The passenger said it was his and that they had just finished smoking.
Oct. 11
U.S. 64 (misdemeanor drug/narcotics violation)
Officers responding to a call about a suspicious circumstance on the 9100 block of U.S. 64 found a white male sitting in the passenger seat of a white Lincoln Town Car around 1 a.m. Oct. 11. The suspect couldn’t provide any ID but gave one officer his Social Security number, and the officer determined that he didn’t have any local warrants.
The officer asked him to roll his car window down but the man barely cracked it, so the officer told him to roll it all the way down so the officer could explain the situation and instruct him to leave the property. The man didn’t obey, so, the officer reached in to open the door. Tut the suspect pushed the officer’s hand away, so the officer pushed the man and had the other officer open the door.
The man briefly resisted being handcuffed after one officer pulled him from the car. The inside of the vehicle smelled like marijuana, and an officer found a baggie of marijuana and a glass pipe with marijuana residue inside it. Officers took the suspect into custody on marijuana and drug paraphernalia charges, and his vehicle was towed.
The substance in the baggie tested positive as marijuana and weighed 1.8 TGW.
Oct. 12
U.S. 64 (business robbery)
An armed man robbed the Flash Market (9108 U.S. 65) around 2:09 a.m. Oct. 12. The cashier said a black male entered through the front door, holding a small silver handgun. He hopped over the counter and told her to open the safe. She couldn’t because it’s on a time lock, so he told her to open the registers. He took $210 in cash and told her to lie down and not move. Then he fled the store.
A friend who came to the store said he almost hit the suspect as he fled across U.S. 64 toward the Stonebridge Crossings Apartment Complex.
The suspect wore a light blue bandanna over his face, a thick dark blue jacket with a blue stripe down the middle, khaki shorts, blue gloves and gray/black shoes (possibly Air Jordans).
Ace Drive (theft from motor vehicle)
Someone broke into a woman’s Nissan Altima overnight when she parked it on the 9200 block of Ace Drive, her father reported on Oct. 12. He said she parked around 7 p.m. Oct. 11 and found that a rear window was broken around noon Oct. 12.
Items stolen included a gate key and an auxiliary cord.
Oct. 13
Davies Plantation East (theft from motor vehicle)
Two women parked at Cracker Barrel (9649 Davies Plantation East) on Oct. 13 were the victim of theft. They said they parked their GMC truck around 3 p.m. and returned around 4:30 p.m. to find damage to the driver’s side door.
Items missing from the truck included a Canon camera, a laptop and Ritalin medication. The victims couldn’t provide serial numbers for the items missing. A review of the restaurant’s security camera footage showed a red sedan park beside the truck around 3:15 p.m.
