Dec. 26: A deputy observed a truck going the wrong way on John Pitts Road and pursued it. The truck reached a speed of about 100 mph before the road ended and the truck flipped several times. The driver regained consciousness, undid his safety belt and stepped out of the truck. As the driver lay on the ground waiting for emergence medical services, the deputy asked why he was speeding in the wrong lane. The man said he did not know.
“His only other statement after looking over at his vehicle was that he guessed he had way too much to drink tonight,” the deputy wrote.

Dec. 26: One man’s pair of sunglasses is another man’s drug paraphernalia.
Deputies responded to a store in Cedar Grove after a clerk called to say she was concerned about a man in the parking lot. They found the man “asleep” in his vehicle.
Officers asked him if he had any weapons and he said no but he did have a bag. The officers asked him what was in the bag and he said sunglasses. But the contents of the bag did not feel like sunglasses, so the officers searched it and found a glass pipe.
The man was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia.

Dec. 26: Someone stole a Southport man’s power meter. The man told investigators that he believes he knows the thief and that thief also damaged a desk in his house and stole legal documents that pertained to the thief. The victim also said that the thief uses extra power meters to steal electricity.

Dec. 20: An 18-year-old boy took a bus from Phoenix to see a girl at Mosley High School. The problem was she did not want to see him. When he got to the school he asked to take a tour of the building. A school resource officer advised the boy that they don’t give tours and don’t let people walk the halls of the school. The boy then left. Deputies found him walking down the road away from the school and asked him what was up. He said that his girlfriend was at Mosley and he wanted to see her.
Deputies contacted the girl and her father who said that she had dated the boy but they had broken up and she did not want to see him. The boy was arrested and charged with trespassing on school property and stalking.

The Blotter is intended to show that there is more to policing than many realize and is based on reports from the Bay County Sheriff’s Office.

Dec. 19: A Panama City woman called deputies to forewarn them that she has upset with her husband but he did not know it yet. The couple is in the process of getting a divorce and the woman took half the money out of their joint bank account. The woman just wanted the Sheriff’s Office to be aware of the situation and claimed that her husband has mental problems.

Dec. 18: A store clerk got his Playstation 2 back but he’s lucky he didn’t get stabbed. The clerk and a robber struggled outside of a Panama City store over the gaming console. The man ran away as deputies approached. He later was apprehended and a folding razor knife was found in his possession. The man was charged with retail theft, resisting a merchant, resisting an officer without violence and carrying a concealed weapon.

Dec. 18: A Panama City Beach man no longer has his dinghy. The man told deputies that the dinghy and two oars were taken in the cover of darkness by a boater. The man reasoned that whoever took the dinghy could not have removed it on land. There were no footprints at the scene. The boat and the oars are worth about $550, the man said.

Dec. 18: Computer basics: don’t e-mail back the Nigerians, don’t tell people where you live and don’t give out your financial information to fishy Web sites. A Panama City Beach man learned this the hard way when he clicked on an e-mail he thought came from Paypal - a Web site that allows computer users to send money to each other. The man clicked on the link which took him to a Web site where he was directed to enter his financial information. A few days later someone debited $294 out of his account. The case is under investigation.

The Blotter is culled from Bay County Sheriff’s Office incident reports.

Dec. 16: A 30-year-old man went to jail for a $9 hat. The man entered a Panama City department store and took the hat and a pair of blue jeans to a dressing room. He left the dressing room and returned the jeans but not the hat. When police arrived he fled and hid under a truck. The man was found, arrested and searched, and the hat was recovered. Department store officials said they would be pursuing charges.

Dec. 17: A deputy pulled over a 22-year-old Youngstown cyclist at about 11:30 p.m. The man was dressed in all black and his bicycle did not have the proper reflectors, the deputy said. When the man lied about his identity and kept moving to the back of the vehicle, the deputy attempted to pat him man down.
The man threw a “sucker punch” that missed. The deputy did not miss when he punched the man in the forehead, sending him to the ground. The deputy arrested the man and charged him with giving false information to a law enforcement officer, carrying a concealed weapon, two counts of possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, resisting an officer with violence and violation of probation.
The man apologized to the officer on the way to jail saying that he was trying to land a sucker punch so that he could run away.

Dec 17: Someone has kidnapped baby Jesus. A Panama City Beach man reported that the plastic baby Jesus that was part of his lawn decoration has been stolen. The other decorations were left alone, the man reported. Deputies have no suspects at this time.

Dec. 17: Someone pried the coin slot box out of a pool table at a local resort. The thieves used a screwdriver to remove the entire box from the pool table. The thieves made off with $5 in quarters. A search of the premises did not yield the box.

Dec. 17: A Panama City Beach man reported that while he was away for the weekend someone broke into his truck. The thieves broke the back sliding windows of the man’s camper to get into the bed of the truck. They then broke out the back window of the truck to get into the cab. The thieves made off with $25 worth of change that was in the ashtray of the truck.

The Blotter is culled from Bay County Sheriff’s Office incident reports. 

Dec. 16: A north Bay County resident wants to know who let the dogs in.

A Sheriff’s deputy responded to a man’s complaint that two dogs were “trapped in his chicken coop.” The two dogs, a bridle beagle and some type of pit bull, were not wearing tags.

“Some time over night the two dogs burglarized the chicken coop, killing at least 10 chickens and one guinea,” the deputy wrote. “Animal control was called, refused to respond saying it was not a priority call, but would respond tomorrow.

“I told the complainant to keep the dogs inside the chicken coop until animal control responded since all of their chickens were already terminated.”

Dec. 16: The Marlboro man is loose along State 77 and the Sheriff’s Office would like some help in identifying him..

A clerk at a store at 15500 State 77 reported she arrived to work Sunday to find someone had thrown a brick through the glass door. About 30 cartons of Marlboro cigarettes were missing.

The operated of another store at 6823 State 77 reported the same day that someone used a large rock to break out a window and get inside.

The suspect left the store with about 80 cartons of 305s.

Dec. 16: Another pair of burglars on the west end of the county left with a heavier load.

Deputies responding to a burglary in progress along North Lagoon Drive arrived to learn two men “had just stolen the ATM machine out of the store.”

Investigators are tracking down the vehicle and its owner.

Dec. 13: A Panama City Beach man has an ongoing problem with a gum thrower. The man asked deputies to document more than 20 pieces of freshly chewed gum that had been thrown onto his front lawn, driveway and the adjacent street. The gum thrower apparently had been at work for years be-cause the man believes that hundreds of black marks on his street and driveway are dried pieces of chewing gum. The man said he had noticed the infestation of black spots over time but never knew what they were. The man told deputies he wanted a document of the incident in case anyone ever caught the gum thrower.Dec. 13: Someone stole a cell phone from a vehicle at a car wash/repair shop on Panama City Beach. There is video of a man entering the building and then leaving after hours. The man apparently stole a black and blue Verizon cell phone from the center console of an employee’s car. The cell phone is valued at $320 but the account has been terminated.

Dec. 13: The soon-to-be ex-husband of a Panama City woman took her 1980 Chevrolet truck two weeks after a fight. The woman stated that he could keep it if he made the payments. The deputy advised her that her problem was a civil matter not a criminal one and that she could sue her soon-to-be-ex-husband if he did not make the payments.

Dec. 13: Three people in a Toyota went to jail over a pair of dollar store shoes. A Panama City retailer called in the description of a group of thieves as they passed two deputies. One passenger, who had two warrants out for his arrest, gave a false name and was arrested after deputies obtained his license. The driver was arrested because she did not have a valid license. Her license was suspended because she did not pay her fines. The third passenger told deputies that she had done nothing wrong. However, when deputies returned the trip to the store a clerk identified the third passenger as one of the people who attempted to steal a pair of shoes. The clerk added that the third passenger became enraged when the trio was confronted about the theft. The third passenger charged the clerk and hit her in the arm leading the deputies to arrest her, too.

Dec. 13: A pair of cigarette thieves struck a Panama City Beach business. One man distracted the only clerk on duty while another took two cartons of cigarettes and a hat. A customer told the clerk what had happened and she confronted the two men in the parking lot. The men returned one of the cartons of cigarettes but fled with the hat and the other carton of Marlboro Red 100s. The merchandise is valued at $45.