Stupid people of the week

Florida burglars spotted driving pickup with ‘stolen tag’ written on cardboard, deputies say

Two men in a pickup truck with “stolen tag” written on a piece of cardboard to serve as a license plate were arrested in connection with multiple burglaries in Brevard County, according to sheriff’s officials.

Anthony Sosa, 31, and Chad Doulette, 36, were taken into custody Thursday and face multiple charges of grand theft and burglary.

According to a probable cause affidavit, the pickup was spotted Wednesday at several houses on Tropical Trail on Merritt Island, where the burglaries occurred.

The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office said jewelry worth thousands of dollars and a handgun were stolen from the homes.

One of Brevard County’s most scenic streets isn’t known for crime, but resident Mark Skwarvk said he can understand what might attract thieves to the neighborhood. Home values are in the millions.

“The affluence of the area would make it enticing, but it’s just the one road in and out,” Skwarvk said. “It’s too easy to get caught.”

One of the homeowners reported to deputies that the pickup had a piece of cardboard that read “stolen tag” attached where the license plate should be. The pickup was later seen on Pineda Causeway in Melbourne and was pulled over by authorities, according to the affidavit.

“People who commit crimes like these are not the sharpest tools in the shed,” Skwarvk told News 6.

The affidavit said deputies searched the vehicle and found the stolen jewelry and handgun in the pickup.

The sheriff’s office said Sosa and Doulette were both convicted in the past on charges of grand theft and attempted burglary, respectively, in Lee County.

Source; ClickOrlando

Woman who tried to rob Pensacola bank left her cell phone at the scene

The arrest report for a woman who allegedly tried to rob a Pensacola bank on Tuesday states she left her cell phone at the scene, which led to her arrest. Resheca Marshall 51, of Pensacola, is charged with attempted robbery with a firearm and attempted grand theft. She is being held in jail on $105,000 bond. The incident happened around 11 a.m. Tuesday at the Synovus Bank on Bayou Blvd.

According to the arrest report, the bank teller told police a woman approached her window and requested a $3,500 withdrawal, so she gave her a withdrawal slip to fill out. The report states the woman wrote “I have a gun” and “Do as I say” on the slip, and then handed it back to the teller.

The teller said she became so afraid she couldn’t move, according to the report. The woman then took the slip back and exited the bank. The report states surveillance footage showed her get into the passenger’s seat of a dark-colored GMC truck and leave the scene.

According to the report, police arrived on scene and found a cell phone at the teller’s window. Surveillance video showed the suspect leave her cell phone at the window. The report states police searched the phone through a warrant, finding that the owner of the phone is named “Resheca Marshall.” Police then searched the name in their database and determined that Marshall’s photo matched the suspect seen on bank surveillance video. According to the report, Marshall and a man were involved in a recent criminal mischief incident at the Lions Motel. The man’s registered vehicle is a black GMC truck – which matched the vehicle seen leaving Synovus.

The report states police later located and detained Marshall and the man at the Lions Motel as they walked out of a room. Police interviewed the man, but did not charge him after determining he didn’t have knowledge of the attempted robbery.

Source; The View From Lady Lake

Three men distract Brink’s truck driver, steal $300K in Brooklyn

The NYPD is searching for a trio of men who managed to steal $300,000 in cash from an armored truck outside of a bank in Brooklyn on Friday.

The brazen robbery happened at around 1 p.m. in Sunset Park, in front of a Chase Bank located at the corner of 8th Avenue and 55th Street.

According to authorities, a Brink’s employee was making a bank money drop when two of the suspects approached him and began to ask for directions.

While the employee was distracted, the third suspect managed to grab a bag of cash that had been left unattended on the bumper of the armored truck and ran from the scene, heading south on 8th Avenue.

The stolen bag reportedly contained $300,000 in cash.

The thief who managed to get away with the bag is described as a man with a light complexion and a slim build who was last seen wearing a black winter hat, a black hooded jacket, gray pants, and black sneakers.

The other two suspects who distracted the Brink’s employee are described as a man with a medium complexion and a medium build who was last seen wearing a black winter hat with white trim, a black winter coat with a hood, gray pants, and black sneakers and a man with a medium complexion and a medium build, last seen wearing a black winter hat, a black face mask, a black jacket, black pants, black sneakers, and a black backpack.

Source; Fox 5 NY

School resource officer found ‘passed out’ in patrol car at red light, Florida cops say

A school resource officer was fired after a Florida sheriff’s office said he was “passed out” behind the wheel of his patrol vehicle at a red light for a full light cycle, according to an internal investigation from the agency.

Christopher Greene, who worked for the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office and was stationed at a high school in Kenneth City, about 20 miles southwest of Tampa, was terminated Dec. 20, according to a spokesperson for the agency.

The investigating agency said Greene was not criminally charged because responding deputies initially thought he was suffering from a medical condition and did not test him for impairment at the scene.

Deputies from neighboring Hillsborough County responded Dec. 18, to a report of a man “slumped over the steering wheel” of a marked Pinellas County patrol vehicle while it was stopped at a red light at an intersection in Brandon, according to an internal investigation released to McClatchy News by the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office. Brandon is about 12 miles east of Tampa.

The cruiser stopped at the red light just after 6 p.m., according to the documents. When the light turned green, the vehicle in front of the cruiser made a right turn, but the cruiser did not move, investigators said.

Eventually, a woman walked up to the passenger side of the vehicle and called law enforcement at about 6:15 p.m., the documents say. She later told deputies she was stopped behind the cruiser for a full light cycle before she went up to the window and saw the driver slumped over and appearing to be “asleep,” according to the investigation.

A worker from a nearby restaurant later told deputies he went out to the street to help direct traffic around the cruiser, and did so for about 10 minutes while the driver stayed “motionless” inside, documents say.

When a Hillsborough County deputy arrived at the scene, Greene “came to” and tried to put his cruiser in drive, according to the internal investigation. When the deputy asked him to get out of his vehicle, he was “reluctant to step out,” documents say.

Greene was off duty at the time, according to the investigation.

The Hillsborough County deputy did not consider alcohol to be a factor in the incident and asked Greene if he had a medical condition, according to the investigation. Greene said he had been recently diagnosed with diabetes. Hillsborough County fire rescue officials drove Greene to a local hospital for an evaluation.

During his evaluation, a nurse “spontaneously stated” that he seemed “really drunk,” according to the investigation. A supervisor told a deputy who was with Greene at the hospital not to detain him but to “stall him,” documents say. Greene left the hospital anyway and got a ride to his father’s house, documents say.

Meanwhile, deputies at the scene of the traffic incident got into Greene’s vehicle to drive it away and noticed alcohol bottles and cans inside, the investigation says.

A deputy found an empty “shooter” whiskey bottle on the passenger-side floorboard, a paper bag with multiple whiskey bottles inside and an open, partially empty can of beer in the cup holder, documents say.

A sergeant then went to find Greene at his father’s house and administered two breath tests, the investigation says. His results were 0.234 blood alcohol content and 0.223 blood alcohol content, the investigation says. Both results are nearly three times the legal limit of 0.08 blood alcohol content.

Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri terminated Greene on Dec. 20 and cited a sheriff’s office policy “concerning members operating a motor vehicle while impaired,” according to a termination letter.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, which handled the investigation into Greene’s conduct, said Greene was not criminally charged in connection with the incident because the containers of alcohol were found in his vehicle after he had left the hospital, meaning investigators could no longer test for impairment.

“When (Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office) deputies initially responded to the scene, Greene stated that he was having medical issues,” an agency spokesperson said in an email. “Our immediate concern at that time was to make sure his medical issues were addressed. He was taken to the hospital due to those health concerns. Deputies found containers inside the vehicle that appeared to contain alcohol after the driver was no longer at the hospital, so we were unable to test for impairment. Because of that, Greene did not face any criminal charges in connection to the incident.”

Greene could not be reached for comment.

The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office released an email sent by Gualtieri in 2013 alerting employees to its policy on impaired driving.

“I never want to be in the position of having to terminate anyone’s employment; however, I also do not want to be the one knocking on the door of someone’s home at 2 :00 a.m. telling them that their loved one was killed by a DUI driver-especially one that works for (Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office),” the email says. “There is an easy solution to avoid any consequence of this new policy – don’t drive while impaired.”

Source; Yahoo!

Florida man botches burglary by accidentally shooting himself in the leg: Sheriff

A man was caught in the act when deputies said he accidentally shot himself in the leg, alerting the homeowner.

The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office said on the morning of Jan. 4, a woman living near Crestview, in the Florida Panhandle, called deputies to report a man outside of her house saying he’d been shot.

Deputies said they found 28-year-old Justin McCall suffering from a gunshot wound to the leg. He was rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment.

Surveillance footage from neighbors caught McCall in the area, deputies say he was committing a series of car and residential burglaries. The sheriff’s office said the gun McCall shot himself with was stolen from another vehicle he broke into.

Investigators said at the time of the burglaries, McCall was out on bond for two separate burglaries. He was also on felony probation for a previous theft of a firearm. Overall, he has 13 felony guilty convictions since 2012 in Florida, including six for burglary, four for grand theft and one for grand theft of a firearm.

Source; CBS12

Category: Crime, Stupid Criminals