Sex offender faces charges in Peeping Tom incident October 31, 2011

A registered sex offender is accused of trying to peer into a female neighbor’s window early Saturday to catch her undressed, arrest reports show, as reported in The St. Petersburg Times.

Robert Andrew Headley, 30, was arrested and faces charges of burglary, loitering and prowling and violation of probation. He was being held without bail in the Pinellas County Jail.

Headley was convicted in May 2009 on a charge of lewd and lascivious molestation of a child between the ages of 12 and 15, according to Pinellas court records. He was sentenced to a year in jail and five years of sex offender probation.

Around 6:30 a.m. Saturday, deputies said, Headley went to a neighbor’s mobile home and crept into a storage area to turn off an outdoor light. He put a chair under a window, placed a cinder block on top and climbed up to look inside, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

It’s unclear if the victim, a 23-year-old woman, saw Headley, or how it was reported to deputies. But Headley was arrested a half hour later and admitted he went to the home to see the woman “naked,” the arrest report states.

Get the details in The St. Petersburg Times.
Photo: Pinellas County Jail

Anger over dead pet leads man to burn roommate’s stuff on lawn

A man angry that his roommate’s dog ate his bird retaliated by setting the man’s belongings on fire in the front yard, authorities said, as reported in The St. Petersburg Times.

Christopher E. Thrap, 35. was arrested by Clearwater police Saturday evening and charged with burglary and felony criminal mischief. On Sunday afternoon, he was being held in the Pinellas County Jail on $5,000 bail.

According to arrest reports, Thrap went into the locked bedroom of a man who rents a room from him and took numerous personal items, including a mattress, television and clothes.

Thrap put the items on the lawn and set them on fire, arrest reports show. He told police he was angry that the man’s dog had eaten his “expensive bird,” an arrest report states.

Get the details in The St. Petersburg Times.
Photo: Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office

Everglades python swallows 76-pound deer

That had to cause a belly ache. A nearly 16-foot Burmese python swallowed an adult deer in the Everglades. According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, contractors for the South Florida Water Management District found the bulging python on a tree island in western Miami-Dade County. It was killed with a shotgun blast. The adult deer was found intact during a necropsy Thursday. The 76-pound female deer is the largest intact prey ever found in a Burmese python in Florida, said Skip Snow, a biologist and python specialist at Everglades National Park, who conducted the necropsy.

Home invaders steal woman’s car, TV and puppies

A group of armed home invaders attacked a Titusville homeowner and stole several of the woman’s belongings, including her TV, her car — and her litter of pit bull puppies, reports Florida Today in Melbourne.

The robbers stole a big-screen TV, the woman’s drivers’ license and wallet, her 1997 Toyota Camry and five 2-week-old pit bills.

Authorities are concerned the puppies might not survive without their mother.

Get the details at Florida Today in Melbourne.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A sketch of one of the suspects described by the victim.

Woman offers undercover officer sex for $17

An undercover officer was driving down Lovejoy Road in Fort Walton Beach when Janet Fay Overdurf, 45, flagged him down and offered to provide him with oral sex for $25, according to the Fort Walton Beach Police Department, reports the Northwest Florida Daily News in Fort Walton Beach.

After some negotiation, the price was dropped to down to $17.

During a search of Overdurf the officer found a crack pipe in her “crotch area.”

Get the details at the Northwest Florida Daily News in Fort Walton Beach.

Photo: Okaloosa County Jail

Accused sledgehammer wielder jailed in light pole attack October 30, 2011

A man spotted with a “rather large sledgehammer” was arrested after police say he complained about paying bills and hit a concrete light pole, according to Off the Beat with Will Greenlee.

A police officer was dispatched “in reference to an unwelcome subject with a sledgehammer sitting” in front of a residence.

The officer spied a man later identified as 32-year-old Antonio Eugene Hadden “with a rather large sledgehammer walking on the sidewalk hitting a concrete light pole.” Hadden said he didn’t want to pay his bills and those of his family any longer.

“Hadden said he saw me driving down the street and that is when he struck the concrete city light pole with the sledgehammer,” the affidavit states.

Sledgehammers often are used in heavy demolition work, such as knocking down walls and busting rocks. It wasn’t immediately clear whether a sledgehammer is capable of toppling a concrete city light pole.

Get the details at Off the Beat with Will Greenlee.

Man decides to strike a deputy – with his truck

Authorities went to Mark Stephen Preston’s residence on Lazy D Farm Road in Estero to investigate the theft of fencing material from the county’s Port Authority property, reports the Naples Daily News.

Preston was arrested Sunday, and is facing charges of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, after authorities say he struck a Lee County sheriff’s deputy with a pickup during a theft investigation.

On Sunday, Port Authority requested a deputy accompany them to a home in Estero to investigate a 2000 white Ford pickup that was parked outside the driveway gate. The truck was part of an investigation into a large quantity of fencing material that was recently stolen from Port Authority property, reports said.

The deputy observed Preston coming down the driveway and positioned himself in front of the pickup to prevent access to it, reports said. Preston spoke with Port Authority officials before walking to the truck. Preston was instructed not to enter the pickup, but ignored law enforcement’s requests, reports said.

He started the engine and accelerated forward while the deputy was still standing in front of the vehicle.

The deputy tried to avoid contact, reports said, but was struck by the front bumper before Preston continued forward through the driveway gate and parked the truck. The deputy removed him from the vehicle and placed him into custody after a brief struggle.

Get the details at the Naples Daily News.

Photo: Lee County Sheriff’s Office

Domino’s managers charged with torching Papa John’s

I’ve heard of competition, but this is absolutely ridiculous!

Two managers of a Domino’s Pizza restaurant in Lake City, Sean Everett Davidson, 23, and Bryan David Sullivan, 22, are accused of torching a Papa John’s Pizza location, reports the Ocala Star-Banner.

By the time the blaze had been brought under control, the business had been gutted, according to Lake City Police Department spokesman Capt. John Blanchard. Police investigator Paul Kash immediately began working with the State Fire Marshal’s Office, and the fire was ruled an arson a short time later, police said.

As leads about the fire began filtering into the police department, investigators Kevin Johns and Patrick Ross began working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on the case.

Police said Sullivan’s motive was that the Domino’s location he was managing would see an increase in business if the Papa John’s restaurant was put out of business.

Get the details at the Ocala Star-Banner.

Photo: Sean Everett Davidson (l); Bryan David Sullivan (r) /  Columbia County Sheriff’s

Mother arrested after her baby was found alone crying in locked car October 29, 2011

A Wellington mom was arrested on Thursday in Royal Palm Beach on child neglect charges for allegedly leaving her infant son locked in her car while she went shopping at a department store, reports The Palm Beach Post.

This morning, a judge ordered that 21-year-old Christie Marie Snow be held in lieu of $3,000 bond.

According to the probable cause affidavit, Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputies and fire-rescue crews were dispatched to the Wal-Mart SuperCenter on Belvedere Road sometime after 8 p.m. to reports of a baby boy crying alone in a locked car. When they arrived, fire rescue crews unlocked the car.

“The mother, later identified as Christie Snow, was unable to be located,” the deputy noted in the affidavit.

Snow eventually returned, and initially told deputies that she had left her 9-month-old son with a man, but later said that she lied because she was scared, the affidavit stated.

She told deputies that she left her son in the car because he was sleeping at 8:31 p.m. and that she returned by 9:06 p.m.

Woman fights off men who tried to abduct her at post office

A 51-year-old Sarasota woman fought off two men who robbed her and tried to force her into a vehicle with them at gunpoint Thursday night in the parking lot of the post office, reports the Herald Tribune.

The woman, 5-foot-8 and 120 pounds, squirted her attackers with pepper spray and scratched one of them in the face, fighting until they gave up and fled.

The men took her keys and sped away in her minivan, which was recovered in North Port on Friday morning, deputies said.

The woman told deputies she was walking back to her minivan when the men stepped out from behind it and told her to get on the ground. One of them brandished a chrome semi-automatic pistol, she said.

She handed over the keys, but a struggle ensued when one of the men grabbed her, the sheriff’s report says. After fighting back with her nails and the pepper spray she carried, the woman was knocked to the ground.

One of the men went to the van and opened its sliding door. The other tried to drag her to it, but she kept fighting until he quit and ran to the van.

Though scratched and bruised, the woman declined medical treatment from paramedics when they arrived, the sheriff’s office says.

The struggle was reported at 9:38 p.m. by a woman who lives in an apartment with a view of the parking lot and heard shouting.