FORT PIERCE — The man on Sunday told police he greeted the woman with a dozen roses and wished her a happy Valentine’s Day before carrying her into the house.

About 10 minutes later, the pair said a man later identified as Larry Bert Sexton, 37, kicked in their door on Timber Ridge Lane and said he was a sheriff’s deputy, an arrest affidavit states. Sexton went to punch the man, but he dodged the blow and Sexton hit the wall. The man said he went to his bedroom. Sexton followed and started punching him in the back of the head.

The woman told investigators she tried to pull Sexton, of the 7400 block of Roberts Road, off the man and ripped Sexton’s shirt. She said Sexton “turned on her, grabbing her by the throat and strangling her.”
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PORT ST. LUCIE — In what appears to be a commode caper, someone kicked open the locked front door of a home and absconded with a toilet from the guest bathroom, according to a recently released police report.

The toilet taker also stole “several items of miscellaneous camping equipment” from the garage of the residence in the 1100 block of Southwest Empire Street. (more…)

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — School officials said a 14-year-old student broke into Storm Grove Middle School, damaging doors and surfing the Internet for pornography, according to a juvenile arrest affidavit.

Security cameras at the school captured images of the eighth-grade student crawling under a gate to get inside the campus last weekend, a deputy for the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office said. More cameras caught him going into the custodian’s office, where he looked at porn Web sites for an hour, the affidavit said. The student also caused $1,200 damage to an office door, the Sheriff’s Office said. (more…)

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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