Good excuse to quit

Police arrested a 56-year old Gainesville man on a charge of attempted murder Saturday after he shot a 78-year old man who refused to hand over his cigarettes.  The victim, Dave Washington, told police that James E. Davis walked up to him on the street and demanded his cigarettes.  When the Washington refused to give them up, police said, Davis snatched them out of Washington's pocket.  When Washington took them back, police said, Davis walked over to a vehicle, retrieved a handgun, walked back to where Washington was standing, fired one shot, and drove away.  Washington was taken to a local hospital for treatment of what the Gainesville Sun deemed a "non-life threatening" gunshot injury.  Davis was arrested shortly thereafter.

Homeless, hungry, man breaks into frat houses to cook breakfast

A homeless man broke into two University of Florida fraternity houses and was arrested while cooking eggs in one of them.

According to the Alligator, Gainesville Police arrested Alexis Dominguez in the kitchen of the Alpha Tau Omega frat house while he was cooking French fries at 1:30 a.m.

A smoke alarm sounded from the eggs and cheese he was also cooking leading authorities to Dominguez.

Dominguez also broke into the Phi Kappa Tau house Thursday by removing a window air conditioner and climbing through.

He told police that he lived at 513 Homeless in Lake City and that he broke in thinking he would not be charged with a crime.

Gainesville Police charged him two counts of unarmed burglary of an occupied dwelling and petty larceny.

 

Woman sneaks into prison to...with boyfriend...who jumps out window when they are caught

Go figure.  A Gainesville woman was arrested early Wednesday for sneaking into prison.

Why would someone want to sneak into a prison?

In the case of 19-year old Victoria Thorpe, well...she must have really, really wanted to do the nasty with her boyfriend, 18-year old Aquilla Wilson, who was incarcerated at the Santa Fe Work Release Center on drug charges.

We hope it was worth it.  When they were caught, Wilson jumped out a window and took off.

“It appeared that she climbed through the window for a little tryst, and when they got caught, he left and left her there,” Police Lt. Wayne Ash told the Gainesville Sun.

Wilson, considered a fugitive from the moment he set foot in the outside world, remains at large.  Thorpe, meanwhile, is behind bars at the Alachua County Jail, charged with aiding a prisoner’s escape and introduction of contraband into a prison.

Math teacher arrested for packing heat

Alachua County Sheriff's deputies arrived at Eastside High School on Monday and asked Mark Stockdale if they could transport him to the Gainesville Police Department for questioning in conjunction with a Sunday night dispute.  The 43-year old math teacher agreed, and deputies escorted him to a patrol car, handcuffed him, and asked if he were in possession of anything that could be used as a weapon.  He told them about the pocketknife in his front pocket.  Alas, he did not mention the 22-caliber handgun, which deputies found when they reached into his pocket to remove the knife.

Which gave them probably cause to search his vehicle, according to the Independent Florida Alligator.  That's where deputies found the loaded 44-caliber handgun.  Stockdale was charged with two counts of having a firearm on school property.

Inept beer thief nabbed in Alachua County

The Gainesville Sun reports that It did not take long for Alachua County Sheriff's Deputies to locate the young woman who pushed a cart with three 24-packs of Natural Light through the emergency exit of a Gainesville Sweet Bay store at 0-dark-30 Sunday.  Why? Because she dropped her purse, which contained several items on which her home address was listed.  Police, of course, readily located her at said address.  The deputy who wrote up the arrest report noted that 21-year old Tami Breshe "was thankful that the deputies returned her purse and personal items, but did not like the trip to the jail."

Children stop attack with baseball bats

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- Authorities say two 8-year-olds used baseball bats to stop an armed man who had threatened to kill a woman in Alachua County.

Charles Arby Bradley is facing several charges, including battery and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He is being held in the county jail.

Authorities say Bradley, 29, was trying to resume a relationship with the woman and threatened violence when she declined.

The woman told investigators that when she left her house with her son and his friend, Bradley hit her with a handgun, put the firearm in her face and threatened to kill her. Bradley left when the children attacked him with the bats.

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Information from: The Gainesville Sun, http://www.gainesvillesun.com

© 2009 The Associated Press.  All rights reserved.  This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Urine theft related to failed drug test

Alachua County Sheriff's deputies arrested a 26-year old Gainesville man earlier this week on charges of arson, destroying evidence, burglary and larceny, according to Gainesville.com.  Police said Devin Anthony Perry broke into a Department of Corrections Probation and Parole office early Sunday and stole a small refrigerator containing urine samples from probationers.  One of those probationers was Perry, police said, who had provided a sample last Friday that tested positive for drugs.

Sheriff's Office spokesman Art Forgey said that after Perry realized his sample had tested positive, he went back to the office at 0-dark-30 Sunday, shot out a window, climbed inside and removed the small, locked refrigerator containing the samples.  After he climbed out, Forgey said, Perry gathered up the shards of glass with his blood on them and then set a fire in some shrubbery beneath the window.

When probation officers arrived at the office around dawn and spotted the smoldering shrubbery, they called police, who quickly determined which probationers might have had reason to want their samples to go missing and began investigating.  Forgey said they found the bloody shards of glass in Perry's trash, wrapped inside some clothing.

Perry is sitting in the Alachua County Jail, but the refrigerator was still missing as of last Monday.

Man steals Benz, rents it out to earn money for crack

Gainesville.com reports that a woman parked her 2005 Mercedes Benz outside a local watering hole Sunday night and later reported it stolen.  She told Alachua County Sheriff's deputies that she'd let Mark Woodrow Lester, 35, borrow the car, but that he'd promply returned with it.

She let him hang onto the keys.  Big mistake, apparently.  A little while later, both Lester and the Benz were missing, she told police.

Monday afternoon, deputies saw the vehicle on the road in another section of town.  When they stopped the driver, he told them he didn't realize it was stolen.  He said he'd borrowed it from Lester.  He offered to lead police to Lester, which he did.

During questioning, Lester admitted to deputies that he'd stolen the car.  He said he had been renting it out to people for $20-$40 a drive.

Why? 

To earn money to buy crack cocaine, of course.

Lester was charged with grand theft and dealing in stolen property.  (Image:  Alachua County Sheriff's Office)

Now let's not hear any mother-in-law jokes

Gainesville.com reports that an 81-year old woman was booked into the Alachua County Jail Saturday after police said she shot her son-in-law in the leg.  Witnesses told deputies an altercation started when Minnie Moore told 48-year old Edward Spencer to move out of the house.  He refused, police said, and Moore went into her bedroom and came out with a .22 caliber, semi-automatic rifle.  Deputies said it appeared Moore was in the living room when she shot at Spencer, who was in the kitchen.  The bullet ricocheted off the floor and hit Spencer in the leg.  Police said witness reports were mixed as to whether Moore retreated to her bedroom after reloading to retrieve a .38 caliber handgun.  According to police, some witnesses said they heard Moore tell her son-in-law that she should have aimed at his head.

Police said Spencer refused medical treatment for his injury, which he called minor.  He also told them he did not want Moore arrested, as the incident "was all a misunderstanding."  Nevertheless, after being taken to a local hospital for an unrelated medical problem, Moore was transported to the jail.

Welcome to the sun, fun and sword state

Today's Floridian-armed-with-a-samurai-style-sword-incident comes from Gainesville.

According to the Gainesville Sun, that is where Charles F. Davis was arrested and charged with breaching the peace and trespassing while armed.

Authorities were called by a resident who said Davis, 66, was yelling obscenities outside his home armed with a sword. When officers arrived at 3:15 a.m., Davis had the sword stuck in the ground between his feet. When he would not walk away from the weapon, an officer shocked Davis with a Taser and took him into custody no problem .