Man shoplifts TVs to pay off court costs from previous criminal case

A Gainesville man who fled to the roof of a Wal-Mart in an unsuccessful attempt to elude police following the theft of several TVs told officers that he'd taken the televisions to raise money that he owed the courts from a different case.

On several occasions, according to police, 28-year old Gerald Linwood "Tay Tay" Hayes III, relocated flat screen TVs in boxes to the entrance of the store's garden center.  Surveillance videos showed Hayes slipping the televisions through a large gate at the rear of the garden center, then climbing the fence and leaving with the TVs.  On Wednesday night, when store employees saw the man move another couple of TVs, they called police.  When an employee told Hayes to stop, he ran in the other direction and climbed a ladder to the store's roof. Officers followed and arrested him on charges of grand theft, burglary, resisting arrest, and resisting a merchant detainment.

According to police Hayes said he took the TVs to sell on the street so he could pay $300 in court fees he owed from previous, unrelated case.

Mother leaves child by side of road; too tired to carry him

Police charged a Gainesville woman with neglect yesterday after she allegedly left her toddler by the side of the road while she went to her mother's house, several hundred feet away.  According to police, witnesses said the crying child was about to walk into the crosswalk when a driver stopped and picked him up.  The driver told police that several minutes passed before he saw the child's mother, 22-year old Katrice Tianna Garvin.  Garvin told police she and her son had been walking from her apartment complex to her mother's house when the boy became tired and sat down by the side of the road. She said she did not want to carry her son the rest of the way because she was also tired.

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.

 

Mockingbirds are more observant than you, say UF scientists

People are sometimes surprised to learn that the mockingbird is the state bird of Florida.  After all, these mundane-looking gray and white birds are found all over the place and hardly appear unique.

But appearances can be deceiving.  We already know that mockingbirds are superb mimics who can imitate other birds as well as environmental sounds like cell phones and car alarms. Indeed, their Latin name is mimus polyglotus, meaning "many-throated mimic."

What we did not know, until tipped off by University of Florida biologists, is that these birds are capable of differentiating between human beings.  They can quickly identify and remember people whom they perceive as a threat.

“We tend to view all mockingbirds as equal, but the feeling is not mutual,” said biology professor Doug Levey.  “Mockingbirds certainly do not view all humans as equal.”

Levey and another professor, Aaron Hoover, conducted an experiment in which a few students on the UF campus walked up to mockingbird nests and touched them.  After two days of this, the mockingbirds became upset when these same students began to approach their nests, uttering alarm calls and swooping at their heads.  However, when different students grew close to the nests, the birds did not freak out.

"Mockingbirds can recognize a human after only 60 seconds of contact," professor Levey told the Gainesville Sun.  "I would challenge most humans to do the same."

Man robs Fla. store for 'street credibility'

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- Authorities say a 21-year-old aspiring rapper robbed a Gainesville convenience store and shot a clerk with a BB gun to gain "street credibility."

Police say Steven Gilmore Jr. has confessed to the Friday night robbery. He also confessed to a restaurant robbery that occurred last week.

According to the Gainesville police, Gilmore shot the clerk in the temple with a BB gun during the robbery.

Gilmore is being held in the Alachua County jail on robbery and aggravated battery charges. According to the Gainesville Sun, a 16-year-old accomplice was also arrested.

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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.

UF student faces 31 charges of groping women; used entymology ruse

University of Florida police arrested a 22-year old graduate student whom they said may have groped about 36 women after telling them he was removing an insect from their bodies.  According to the Independent Florida Alligator, Robin Garg may have not actually touched five of the women, but misdemeanor battery charges are pending in the other 31 cases.  The maximum penalty for each charge is a year in prison and a $1,000 fine.

As of Monday afternoon, Garg was sitting in the Alachua County Jail, with bail set at $5,000.  Police issued a trespass order banning him from the UF campus, where he was studying computer and information science and engineering.  (Photograph:  Alachua County Sheriff's Office)

Note to burglars: The cops ARE aware of Craigslist

Three Gainesville men ended up in the Alachua County Jail Wednesday after police found a laptop they'd stolen advertised for sale on Craigslist.  According to Gainesville.com, police routinely check local pawnshops on a regular basis for stolen items.  But the men who stole the laptop and a plasma TV from an unlocked apartment February 28 may not have realized that Craiglist has become a popular law enforcement fishing hole for the same purpose.

Undercover detectives pretending to be interested in buying the laptop arranged to meet one of the men in a shopping center parking lot to complete the transaction.  When the officers confirmed that the laptop matched the description of the stolen machine, the man was arrested.  During questioning, he implicated two accomplices.

Behold the green spotted puffer fish!

So you're allergic to cats and dogs.  Feathers, too, which means you can't have a pet bird, either.

Well, University of Florida researchers have succeeded in captively breeding an particularly engaging critter that might be right at home in your fish tank.  How about a green spotted puffer fish?

These aren't your garden variety aquarium fish.  "Native to brackish waters in South and Southeast Asia, the fish grows to about six inches," explains a UF press release. "When frightened, its body rapidly inflates into a spiny ball."

How cool is that?

Researchers are interested in this particular creature for its potential utility in genomic research, though other fish also fill that role -- particularly the zebrafish.  According to the press release, about a quarter of a million green spotted puffer fish are sold each year by producers "to North American hobbyists and researchers," which was the impetus for developing a commercial breeding method. (Image:  University of Florida News)

Man caught "huffing" for the sixth time in 15 months

You and I may use those aerosol containers of "canned air" to blast crud out of the nooks and crannies of our personal computers.  A 23-year old Gainesville man, however, stole a half dozen cans of the stuff for another reason -- i.e., to get high.  Police found Dustin Charles Martin Sunday in a Wal-Mart men's room with five empty cans next to him.  The sixth can was half empty.  Officers had been called to the store after employees saw Martin take the six cans off a shelf and carry them into the restroom.  He was arrested and charged with petty theft.

According to police, Martin was no amateur huffer.  Sunday's incident was the sixth time in 15 months that officers were summoned to deal with the man after he'd been inhaling gas.

"He was taken to (Shands at) AGH for treatment and issued a notice to appear for petty theft,"  police spokesman told Gainesville.com.  "Our fear for him is that law enforcement or EMS will not get there fast enough every time and unless he gets help, this will have a very bad ending for him."

Woman arrested for performing community disservice at thrift store

The Gainesville Sun reports that a 19-year old Old Town woman was arrested and charged with petty theft for shoplifting three shirts and a pair of jeans from the Salvation Army Thrift Store in Gainesville.  Where she was performing community service hours.

According to police, Latonya Omega Jackson had been directed to perform 15 hours of community service as a result of an earlier trespassing case.  When she was confronted after she was seen putting the clothing in her purse, she claimed she was being forced to steal the items by someone outside the store.