Marathon Man Sustains Injury

A Marathon man sustained a serious injury on the morning of June 4th to his neck and detectives are attempting to determine what may have happened.

The incident has resulted in numerous rumors which detectives have been following up on as they are reported. So far, Detective Amanda Coleman has confirmed that 55 year old Jeffrey Knapp was last seen uninjured by employees of the Hurricane Restaurant in Marathon. He was escorted by employees from the bar at approximately 9 p.m. Rumors of a fight in the establishment during which Knapp was injured are not accurate, according to employees of the restaurant.

Knapp was interviewed by Detective Bob Dosh at Kendall Regional Hospital in an attempt to determine what happened. Knapp said he does not remember anything after leaving the Hurricane Restaurant. He just remembers lying down on a grassy area and not being able to move very well.

Knapp was located at 5 a.m. just past the entrance to the Barracuda Grill in Marathon, after a passerby called the Sheriff’s Office to report someone in medical distress. At the time, Knapp  told deputies he believed he’d had a stroke or a seizure. Deputies who initially responded said Knapp had no visible injuries. Knapp told Detective Dosh he does not remember being in an altercation with anyone. All of his valuables are accounted for and there is no indications a robbery took place.

Anyone who has any further factual information about what may have happened to Knapp is asked to call Detective Amanda Coleman at 305-289-2430.

Teen charged with burglarizing neighbor’s house

A Tavernier teen was arrested Monday [June 12], charged with entering a neighbor’s house when she wasn’t there, stealing two checks and depositing them in his own bank account.

The victim, who lives on Arbor Lane in Tavernier, called the Sheriff’s Office on March 10th to report someone had entered her home through an unlocked door while she was away. She said the person had removed two checks and then deposited them at a Key Largo bank. The two checks had already been deposited once by the victim via a mobile device. After the bank noticed the second deposit, the bank notified her of the issue prompting her call to the Sheriff’s Office. She called back several days later and said she believed there had been more than one unauthorized entry to her home. She said on the second occasion, she believes the person who entered injured her dog. Investigators say she initially reported finding no forced entry to her home, but later said she found pry marks at the rear of the home after the second alleged entry.

Further investigation revealed the account the money was deposited into belonged to 18 year old Levy Diaz Torres, who lives next door to the victim. When Torres was confronted about the deposits into his account, he admitted to taking the checks. He said he entered the victim’s home one time through an unlocked door while he was intoxicated. He said he did not injure the victim’s dog.

A warrant was obtained for his arrest and he was booked into jail today on charges of one count of burglary, grand theft and two counts uttering a forged instrument.

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Note: Information in this crime report was provided by the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office. Please remember all suspects are innocent until proven guilty. If you have information that could help solve a crime in the Florida Keys, call Crime Stoppers, 800-346-TIPS.