Crime & Safety

OMG PD: Fake Deputies, Sushi Theft, Drug Dealer Refund, Machete Attack on Grandmother

We compile the odd, unusual "oh my gosh" police items from throughout the Tampa Bay region.

A 13-year-old girl accused of breaking into a New Port Richey business with someone else and doing more than $10,0000 in damage there was arrested Monday, April 22.  

The girl broke into Wash Tub Laundry, 6051 Massachussets Ave, on Jan. 29 at around 4 a.m. with another girl, according to a New Port Richey police report. 

Once inside, a girl used “some type of edged weapon” to cut all the water hoses that deliver to six washing machine units, according to the report. A hard and steady flow of water was unleashed. Ceiling tiles, washing machines, electrical components, insulation and paperwork were damaged.

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A Sarasota office manager is charged with practicing medicine without a license after authorities say she performed a painful procedure on a patient following her cosmetic surgery.

Christine Patterson, 44, is the brother of Dr. Alberico Sessa and works as the medical biller and an office manager at his Clark Road practice, Sarasota Surgical Arts, according to the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office.

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A patient came to the office in 2011 to complain of "massive swelling," with two witnesses telling investigators the woman's face was "swollen like a pumpkin." Detectives say Patterson contacted Dr. Sessa, who was out of town, then decided to insert a drain to remove excess fluid, reportedly telling the patient she had seen the procedure done "plenty of times."

The woman told investigators she was under the impression Patterson was a nurse, and that the procedure the pain was "excruciating." No pain medicine was given, according to the affidavit.

The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office is warning residents to be cautious following a report that a group of men impersonated law enforcement officers in north Sarasota.

"A Sarasota couple reported being pulled over early Saturday near 17th Street and Dodge Avenue by a black four-door sedan, possibly a Dodge Charger or Chevrolet Impala, with chrome rims and a red and blue light bar in the windshield," sheriff's spokesperson Wendy Rose wrote in a media release Monday. "The male victim was ordered to get on the ground, but when the female victim was ordered out of the car she noticed scratches and damage to the front end and remarked that it was not a real police car. The suspects fled."

The suspects described three black men in their 20s or 30s wearing black shirts with the word "SHERIFF" on it, black boots and black pants. They had with them two wooden stock shotguns and a gold, semi-automatic handgun with a black grip, Rose said.

Two men and a teenager are charged with stealing a 30-foot boat and trailer from a Sarasota home, not longer after they attempted to steal another trailer in Nokomis, deputies said Monday.

The three suspects, who are from Lehigh Acres, near Fort Myers, are accused of stealing the 30-foot Donzi boat and trailer from a Nautilus Drive home they had cased before, according to the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office.

Deputies were looking for their car, a white Dodge Ram that was pulling the trailer and the boat, after the owner of the first trailer in Nokomis reported scaring off the trio as they tried to steal it.

The suspects were pulled over around 1 a.m. Friday at McIntosh and Sawyer Loop roads. One of them told deputies that the boat belonged to a friend and that he had just gotten done fishing, according to the arrest affidavit.

Bradenton Teacher Charged with Child Abuse

A teacher at Horizons Academy in Bradenton is charged with child abuse after he allegedly grabbed a 13-year-old student, threw him to the ground and then threw him out of his classroom, deputies said Thursday.

Colby Cadwell, 30, was arrested at his Bradenton home Thursday morning, according to the Manatee County Sheriff's Office.

The incident occurred Tuesday at Horizons, according to deputies, who say the student flinched at another student like he might hit the student. Cadwell then grabbed the 13-year-old, "threw him to the floor, then picked him up and physically threw him out of the classroom," a sheriff's report states.

Police: Man With Knife Threatened to Kill Elderly Woman at Walmart

Bradenton Police are searching for a man accused of robbing an elderly woman at knifepoint and threatening to kill her in a Walmart parking lot, authorities said Thursday.

The 82-year-old victim was loading groceries into her car in the parking lot of Walmart, 5315 Cortez Rd. W., around 8:35 p.m. Wednesday when the suspect threatened her with a knife, stating, "Give me your purse, or I'll kill you," according to a police spokesperson.

After the woman handed over her purse, the man ran into an awaiting vehicle and took off, police said. The woman did not require medical attention.

A Bradenton mother and her two young children came home from church to find their home being robbed by two masked men at gunpoint Wednesday night, the Manatee County Sheriff's Office reports.

The woman and children, ages 2 and 7, were grabbed and threatened by the suspects, one of whom pointed a gun at them and "demanded that they be given everything and told them if they didn't get everything they would kill the kids," according to a sheriff's report.

The two men grabbed items from the 33-year-old woman, took things from the home in the 600 block of 58th Avenue Drive West and fled out the back door, deputies said.

Woman to 911: Drug Dealer Won't Give Me Refund

A 47-year-old woman faces a charge of misusing the 911 call response system, after police say she demanded that officer get her $50 back from a drug dealer, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

Katrina Tisdale was arrested Monday night and booked into the Pinellas County Jail. According to jail records, this is the second time that Tisdale was jailed for misusing the 911 system, after a similar incident in 2011, the Times reports.

A Dunedin man is accused of battering a six-months pregnant woman, punching her in the face and choking her on April 21, authorities report.

After reportedly being out all night, Seth Emil Basham, 30, of the 1200 block of Royal Oak Drive, arrived at the residence where the pregnant woman was staying around 7 a.m. on April 21, according to Pinellas County Sheriff's arrest records.

The woman asked Basham where he was all night, which launched the two into an argument, according to arrest records.

During the course of the argument, Basham is accused of punching the woman in her right eye and mouth, choking her and kicking her in the left leg.

Tanya Loy, 27, of Palm Harbor, told Pinellas County Sheriff's deputies she stole sushi, a four-pack of double-A batteries and a metal spatula because she was hungry and did not have any money.

Loy is accused of stealing the items from the Publix store at 35439 U.S. 19 around noon on April 12, according to an arrest affidavit. She was booked into the Pinellas County Jail on one charge of petit theft with bond set at $250.

Armed with a machete, a man reportedly attacked his grandmother in Plant City on April 20 after an earlier "physical dispute," according to a report from the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

The report notes that at about 4:28 p.m., Anthony Wayne Griffith, 34, of the 7600 block of Loghouse Road, and his 75-year-old grandmother engaged in a physical dispute.

"The suspect then armed himself with a machete and attacked her, causing deep lacerations to her face and upper body," the report continues.

Griffith reportedly called 911 shortly after the incident "and explained what
he had done." Held without bail at the Hillsborough County Jail, he faces charges of attempted first-degree murder and aggravated battery with a weapon on a person over 65.

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