Key West The Newspaper

Woman charged with aggravated child abuse

A 43 year old Key Largo woman was arrested Friday, charged with aggravated child abuse.

The four year old female victim showed up at her Upper Keys school with injuries on both her arms. She told school officials 43 year old Melodie Starr had caused the marks to her arms “because she had been bad”. The marks were highly visible red diagonal marks and bruises up and down her right arm and on the back of the girl’s left arm. Paramedics called to the scene to check the girl’s injuries said the injuries could have been caused by someone grabbing the girl’s arms and twisiting them hard.

Deputy Cody Kerns notified the Department of Children and Families, and then interviewed a number of people at the school as well as at the victim’s home. After completing his investigation, Deputy Kerns placed Melodie Starr under arrest for aggravated child abuse.

Big Pine man charged with stealing, pawning tools

A Big Pine Key man is in jail, charged with stealing power tools from a Big Pine business and pawning them at a local pawn shop.

Detective John Gabay was on Big Pine Key Friday investigating another crime when the owner of a business called “Bees Honey Pots” reported a theft from his shed. He owns property on 5th Avenue, Big Pine Key. He said earlier in the year, he noticed the sliding door to the shed had been pried open and a circular saw and belt sander were missing from inside. He said he has a duplex on the property he rents out, and he suspected the son of a tenant of his stole the tools. He said the man, identified as 34 year old Michael Glennon, frequently visits the property.

Detective Gabay checked the pawn shop database and saw Glennon had recently pawned a circular saw and a belt sander at a Big Pine Key pawn shop. He confirmed this information with the pawn shop’s owner and confirmed with the victim the items were his property. Detective Gabay obtained a warrant for the arrest of Glennon, who was arrested last Friday for fraud, burglary, theft and dealing in stolen property.

Little Torch woman arrested for stealing lottery tickets

A 41 year old Little Torch Key woman was arrested Friday, charged with stealing $10,000 worth of lottery tickets.

Detective John Gabay responded to the Big Pine Winn Dixie grocery store Friday and met with the Asset Protection Specialist for the Winn Dixie Corporation. He told the detective the corporation does a lotto inventory every week between February and April and they identified a $13,786 shortage at the Big Pine Key store.

The man told Detective Gabay he had reviewed surveillance video and identified the suspect as store employee Teresa Blanco. He confronted Blanco with the evidence, which showed her taking $25 scratch off tickets, paying for lower cost $2 or $5 tickets and then putting the high cost ones in her purse. Blanco admitted to the theft of $10,000 worth of lottery tickets.

She was arrested on last Friday, charged with Grand Theft and booked into jail.

Burglary suspect arrested

The suspect in a vehicle burglary that took place in February at the Tavernier Winn Dixie store has been arrested.

The burglary took place on February 28th at 8:40 p.m. The victim in the case was at the grocery store when her purse was stolen from her vehicle in the parking lot. Deputy Cody Jackson responded to take a report of the theft. He requested surveillance video of the parking lot during the time of the theft.

The video showed a dark colored van pull up after she left her car to go inside. Two people get out of the van and go into the store. A third person is shown on the video getting out of the van and walking to the victim’s car. The video shows him leaning into the car and removing something, then walking back to the van.

Detective Lance Hernandez was assigned to investigate. Two weeks later, he received information about that a dark van had possibly been used for more vehicle burglaries at Tavernier Towne, the shopping center where Winn Dixie is located. The vehicle in question had been stopped by deputies and the driver had been identified as 23 year old Sean Richardson of Tavernier. The van in question fit the description of the one Detective Hernandez was investigating.

Detective Hernandez made numerous attempts to talk to Richardson, going to his house and leaving his business card with requests for Richardson to call him. He finally was able to make contact with Richardson on April 26th on Pearl Avenue in Tavernier. He confronted Richardson with the information he had, including the surveillance video. Richardson admitted to taking the purse from the car.

A warrant was issued for his arrest and today he was booked into jail, charged with burglary and theft.

Traffic stop leads to credit card fraud case

A routine traffic stop by a Marathon deputy resulted in the arrest of a Miami man for possessing counterfeit credit cards.

Deputy Seth Hopp was on patrol at 11:45 p.m. last Wednesday when he spotted a white Mercedes with a license plate partially obstructed by a black cover around it. He pulled the car over at 55th Street in Marathon. There were five people in the car, including the driver, 26 year old Jose Castro Lorenzo of Miami.

A check on Lorenzo revealed his license was suspended for failure to pay traffic fines.

When the deputy glanced inside the car, he saw a green leafy substance scattered on the floorboards. He also smelled the odor of fresh marijuana inside the vehicle. He had all the occupants exit the vehicle so he could investigate further. A plastic bag with 10 grams of marijuana was found in the rear driver’s side floor board.

A leather bag was found in the car. Inside, Deputy Hopp found nine credit cards in various names from various banks. Also in the bag were seven checks made out to different people. A tenth credit card was in Lorenzo’s wallet, with someone else’s name on the card.

Lorenzo claimed ownership of the bag; he said a person whose name he does not know meets him in a parking lot in Maimi and gives him credit cards along with pin numbers; he then takes the cards to various ATM machines where he withdraws money. He said the same person gives him checks which he deposits. When the checks clear, he withdraws the money. He said he gives all the money from these transactions back to the person who then pays him a small fee.

Lorenzo was arrested and charged with possession of counterfeit credit cards and driving with his license suspended. He was booked into jail. A passenger in the car, 21 year old Javier Sanrregre of Miami admitted ownership of the marijuana. He was issued a notice to appear in court and was released, along with the other passengers.

Man arrested for drug sales

A Florida City man was booked into jail on outstanding warrants for drug sales.

The warrants stem from drug sales that took place in September and October of 2016 on Stock Island. An undercover operative purchased cocaine on two occasions and methamphetamine once from Rodney Atkinson, 41, of Homestead, during the time period.

Warrants were issued for his arrest and on Wednesday he was booked into the Monroe County jail. Charged with two counts sale of cocaine, one count distribution of methamphetamine, two counts use of a two way communications device to facilitate a felony, driving with his license suspended – habitual offender and three counts of failure to appear in court.