March 3, 6:21 p.m.: Officer Geschke responded to a call regarding "a strong arm robbery" at the intersection of Kirkman Road and Valencia Community College Drive. Upon his arrival, the officer spoke with (or rather, tried to speak with) the 65-year-old female victim, whose 31-year-old daughter arrived on the scene to translate because her mother only speaks Spanish. The daughter wrote the statement while her mother verbally described the incident.
According to the report: "`The victim` verbally stated to `translator` that she was walking toward The Island Club apartment complex when she was approached by two black males …. The `perps` pushed her to the ground and acted as if they were going to hit her." Then they took the victim's brown suede purse and headed north on Kirkman Road.
According to the report, the contents of the victim's purse included $60, a cell phone, a brown wallet valued at $30, 12 (!) credit and debit cards, an alien resident card, a social security card and a Florida ID.
Happily, "`The victim` was provided with a Spanish version of the Victim's Rights Booklet," reports state.
March 6, NOON: A 31-year-old woman was at an apartment laundry with her two infant children in the 5000 block of Timberleaf Boulevard when she was accosted by an unknown black male wearing Army fatigues. The suspect asked the victim for a dollar, and she shook her head to indicate that wasn't going to give up the buck. The man reached under the woman's baby stroller and pulled loose a baby bag. The man ransacked the baby's bag until he found the woman's black, white and green purse. The woman pleaded with the suspect to leave her personal papers, with negative results. She told police that if she had attempted to get her purse back from the suspect, she would have received great bodily harm. Wise choice, mama.
"The suspect placed the victim in fear and fled northbound," says the report. He took her purse (valued at $20); $50 in cash and a food stamp card; her social security card and miscellaneous papers.
Perhaps if the perp had any soul whatsoever he would have left the food stamp card so the woman could feed her children. Then again, he did wrench the bag away from a baby.
March 6, 4:11 p.m.: Officer Malik responded to the 3500 block of Silver Star Road in reference to a commercial burglary. The 45-year-old complainant told the officer that an unknown suspect(s) entered the fenced yard of the business and stole "approximately 5,000 to 8,000 pounds of lead-shielded copper cable and shielded copper connectors."
Wow, that's a boatload of metal to make off with. Officer Malik has a theory as to what went down: "It appeared the suspect(s) may have passed the items over the back fence located off of Bengert Street." What evidence did she have? The top of the chain link fence was bent down and there were tire tracks leading up to the fence. Either the thieves hoisted the stuff up and over, or they took it all to the bus stop. The report continues: "The estimated value of stolen property is $8,000. The estimated damage to the fence is $500."
March 7, 2:06 p.m.: In this case, our 34-year-old victim was forced to call officer Strawn out to the 1600 block of East Colonial Drive after getting jacked for his money and his bike.
The report reflects: "On 03/07/2006, at approximately 1400 hours, the victim was riding his bicycle. … An unknown suspect pushed him off the bicycle. The suspect had `instructed` the victim `to` give him his money and the victim gave him $10. The suspect fled on the victim's bicycle. The victim called the police." With all the bikes left unsecured in the Orlando-area, one might think our perp would just grab one of those instead of ganking someone for a $100 bike in broad daylight.
You must have a hardened criminal mind and an utter lack of scruples to batter this particular victim, as officer Strawn reports: "Note: The victim is mentally handicapped."
Nice. Soon we'll have criminals jacking the short bus on its way to school.
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