FORT PIERCE — A man accused of stealing dozens of frozen meals, candy bars, bathroom tissue, tea and other items from a Dollar Tree store was arrested after secreting himself in an attic, according to a police report released Tuesday.

About 8:40 p.m. Monday, police responded to an address in the 800 block of Sunrise Boulevard where a woman in the area said a man approached her and asked whether she wanted to purchase some frozen foods. The woman said the man’s name was “Tom” and that he lived in a nearby apartment. (more…)

PORT ST. LUCIE — Sleep has been hard to come by ever since someone broke into what Gayle Crothers considers her sanctuary.

She pulled into her driveway Monday afternoon and noticed a strange car backed up to her house. “I came in the front door and there was a man standing here, or actually two men, but behind the door there was a third one I did not see,” says Crothers.

The men pushed Crothers down and took off, leaving with her Ipod, a laptop and several remotes. (more…)

FORT PIERCE — Police arrested a 45-year-old man accused of burglarizing a church in late September, according to a recently released arrest affidavit.

Eric L. Teal, of the 600 block of South Sixth Street, faces charges including burglary, petit theft and giving a false name to a law enforcement officer.

Teal’s arrest Friday came less than a month after an employee at the First United Methodist Church of Fort Pierce in the 600 block of Orange Avenue told police he noticed a DVD/VHS player and a DVD player missing.
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MARTIN COUNTY — A Port St. Lucie man claimed he severely injured himself and broke into a woman’s home to call 911, according to an arrest affidavit.

Joshua Burdette Sauls, 25, of the 200 block of Southeast Prima Vista Boulevard, said he was in the 5700 block of Southeast Lamay Drive in Stuart when he injured his left leg above the knee about 9 p.m. Monday, the affidavit said. Sauls said he opened the unlocked front door of a home on Lemay, grabbed a cordless phone and stepped back outside to call 911. A woman inside the home was in a back bedroom and told the Martin County Sheriff’s Office she didn’t hear Sauls enter.
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MARTIN COUNTY — A nude man covered in feces broke into someone’s backyard and jumped into the pool Saturday, according to a Martin County Sheriff’s Office report.

Robert Stark Higgins, 21, of the 5300 block of Southeast Dell Street, Stuart, was charged with burglary to an occupied dwelling, disorderly conduct and misdemeanor theft. He was being held at the Martin County Jail in lieu of $10,500 bail.
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STUART — Police said they took a man into custody Wednesday after he bought a stolen iPhone and tried returning it to its owner.

Johnny Harris, 29, of the 7700 block of Southeast Kingsway Street, Hobe Sound, was charged with dealing in stolen property. He was being held at the Martin County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bail.

Stuart police said a house burglary happened Monday in which the intruders took the iPhone, according to the arrest affidavit. Harris told police he ran into someone Tuesday night who sold it to him for $175, the affidavit said.

The owner of the iPhone contacted Harris, who agreed to a rendezvous in the 2300 block of South Federal Highway to return the device. When Harris arrived, officers took him into custody. Police said in the affidavit that Harris should have known the phone was stolen.
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PORT ST. LUCIE — A man who reportedly “escaped” from a hospital told police he went in a house to get a drink of water, later noting he took a cold shower and grabbed some items from the residence, according to an arrest affidavit released Tuesday.

Justino Cruz, 27, went to jail on felony burglary and misdemeanor petit theft charges following the alleged Monday night incident on Southeast Berkshire Boulevard.

While the victims were telling police their home wasn’t as they left it, Cruz, of the 1500 block of Southeast Royal Green Circle, walked out of the backyard, according to a report.
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FORT PIERCE — About 6 p.m. Tuesday, the U.S. Marshall Fugitive Task Force arrested David Jerome Brown, 48, of the 500 block of North 27th Street in connection with a Monday night attack on a woman and shooting of her son.

Brown was apprehended at the corner of North 27th Street and Avenue G without incident, said Fort Pierce Detective Ben Thayer.

The male victim was shot in the genitals and his mother pistol whipped Monday night in a suspected domestic-related incident before the attacker fled in a pickup truck, according to a police report released Tuesday and a sergeant.
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FORT PIERCE — A man who police have said could be responsible for 20 burglaries or attempted burglaries of occupied homes since March was arrested Tuesday afternoon.

Police, with the help of a U.S. Marshals Service task force, apprehended Derrick L. Hickman, 33, for whom investigators obtained an arrest warrant in connection with a May attempted burglary in the 1600 block of Havana Avenue.

Investigators suspect Hickman could be responsible for 19 other burglaries or attempted burglaries, Fort Pierce police Sgt. Dennis McWilliams has said.
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STUART — Nine years ago, a drunk Donald Flewellen drove a stolen van across the center line, causing a collision that killed two people and left illegal Guatemalan immigrant Luis Jimenez permanently brain damaged.

Less than four months after his December release from prison for two counts of DUI manslaughter, authorities say Flewellen, 52, was behind the wheel of a borrowed car and caused a hit-and-run crash with property damage in Fort Pierce.

Already charged with two counts of violating his supervised release, court papers show when Flewellen returns to court Aug. 17, he’ll face additional charges of leaving the scene of a crash with property damage and driving on a revoked driver’s license related to an April 5 traffic collision.
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