Bomb Scare: A man approached the drive-thru window at the Wachovia Bank on N. 50th Street in Tampa and sent a bank bag through the teller drawer to the bank employee inside. The woman teller working the window opened the bag and found "an apparent explosive device" and a list of demands. Per the report: "The note threatened the detonation of the device if a pre-determined amount of currency was not handed over to the suspect." The teller didn't help this customer with his withdrawal (the report doesn't specify why), and the man "gestured with his hand that he was going to detonate the device." Fortunately, the man was bluffing and quickly fled when his ruse was uncovered. Immediately following the incident, a parade of law enforcement descended on the bank, including the bomb squad and a robot sent in to retrieve the fake "explosive device."
Air Bandits, Part I: I've got two reports of the thefts of air conditioning units, the first involving two nimble brothers. The pair of almost-gymnasts managed to climb onto the roof of Louis Wohl & Sons in Tampa and disassemble seven A/C units, valued at about 50 grand. It was really the copper tubing and coils that the thieves were after, and the parts were soon sold as scrap at a metal recycling business. This caper was a repeat performance: A week earlier, one of the brothers and three friends had climbed onto the roof of Franklin Middle School in Tampa and taken apart three A/C units (total damage: $30,000), again stealing the copper tubing and coils and selling the parts as scrap.
Air Bandits, Part II: In the second case, police encountered a man pushing a shopping cart containing a large window A/C unit on N. 14th Street in Tampa. The cops smelled a rat and detained the guy while they tried to figure it out where the A/C had come from. The perp remained cool, but: "During the course of the field interview, a call was dispatched to the Lazy Oaks [mobile home park] on Nebraska Avenue in reference to a burglary and theft of a window A/C unit." A witness soon confirmed that the cops had found the stolen A/C and the man was taken into custody.
From the files of the T.P.D.
This article appears in Jul 11-17, 2007.