Operation Freedom Goes Awry.
On Monday, October 3, at 5:15 p.m. officers of the Santa Monica Police Department received numerous calls from concerned and upset citizens informing them that a naked man was walking on the Santa Monica Pier ramp. The officers sped to the location to see what was going on and when they arrived they spotted the naked man. This naked man was walking down the ramp with his clothes neatly folded and tucked under his arm and wearing only his boots. The officers approached this man and asked him why he was walking down the ramp naked apart from his boots, to which he replied, “I need to be free!” The officers asked the naked, 31-year-old homeless man to put some clothes on before arresting him and taking him to jail where he was charged with indecent exposure and his freedom removed until he had been able to satisfy the $10,000 bail amount.
Multiple Personality Disorder.
On Wednesday, October 5, at 7:45 a.m. an officer of the Santa Monica Police Department was on a routine morning patrol in an alley behind the 300 block of Prospect Avenue when he chanced upon a homeless man who had set up camp at the location. The man was lying on a mattress that had a nightstand next to it. In addition the man also had a number of backpacks that contained his worldly possessions. The officers reminded this man that there was a city ordinance in effect that prohibited this kind of camping in city limits, and after the officer had shared this information with the man the officer asked the man for some form of identification so that the officer could write this man a citation. The man told the officer that he did not have any identification upon his person, and was also unable to verbally tell the officers his name so the officers placed this man under arrest in order to take him to the police station where there exists technological equipment that is able to identify virtually everybody. The officer picked up this man’s possessions and as is the standard procedure searched the items for evidence of contraband or weapons. The officer discovered that this man was in possession of four credit cards in two different names. The officers asked the man why he had these credit cards and he said that they were his cards in two aliases that he had been using. The officer used his radio and discovered that these credit cards had in fact been reported as being stolen from a vehicle parked on Arizona Avenue the previous day. The officers also managed to speak with the rightful owner of the credit cards who said that they already had numerous fraudulent charges applied to them. The officer also found a quantity of methamphetamine on this man so he was taken to jail and charged with illegal camping, possession of a controlled substance, possession of stolen credit cards, and a violation of probation. Bail was not granted to this 34-year-old homeless man.
Nap Nabbed.
On Thursday, October 6, at 3:26 p.m. officers of the Santa Monica Police Department were informed by dispatch that a woman had called in and reported that a man had just attempted to steal items from her vehicle. The victim stated that she had been taking a nap inside her vehicle (that had been parked on Main Street) when she was awoken by the presence of an arm that had reached inside the slightly open passenger side window. She said that the hand on the end of the arm had attempted to grab her cell phone, her wallet and some food that had been placed on the front passenger seat of her vehicle. She had given dispatch a detailed description of the suspect and had added that the suspect had departed and was last seen riding his bicycle northbound on Main Street. As the officers reached the area they spotted a man who perfectly fitted the description (green shirt, khaki pants and bright green shoes) of the suspected thief in the area of Main Street and Hollister Avenue. The officers detained this man while they began their investigation. The victim soon positively identified this man as the suspected thief and he was whisked off to jail. The suspect had given the officers a name and date of birth that he had claimed were genuine, however when they arrived at the Santa Monica Jail and this man was fingerprinted it was discovered that this identity belonged to someone else, so in addition to the charge of theft this man was also charged with impersonating another individual as well as the seemingly ubiquitous parole violation. Bail was not granted.
A State Of Ecstasy.
On Thursday, October 6, at 11:57 p.m. officers of the Santa Monica Police Department who were on routine patrol in Santa Monica spotted a vehicle performing “burnouts” and doing “donuts” in the 1550 block of Pacific Coast Highway parking lot. The officers watched as this car lost control and careered into the sand on the beach. The officers then approached the driver and passenger and soon discovered that one of these individuals was on probation for a narcotics offense. The officers, being entitled under the provisions of the probation order, searched this vehicle and discovered that the driver of the vehicle was in possession of a quantity of MDMA (Methylenedioxymethamphetamine), or ecstasy tablets. The officers also performed a computer check on this vehicle and discovered that the vehicle had in fact been stolen on October 6 from the Los Angeles Police Department Newton Division area. The officers arrested the driver of the vehicle, a 34-year-old Riverside resident, was charged with embezzlement and possession of a controlled substance. Bail was set at $20,000.
Editor’s Note: These reports are part of a regular police coverage series entitled “Alert Police Blotter” (APB), which injects some minor editorial into certain police activities in Santa Monica. Not all of The Mirror’s coverage of incidents involving police are portrayed in this manner. More serious crimes and police-related activities are regularly reported without editorial in the pages of the Santa Monica Mirror and its website, smmirror.com.
