MUG SHOTS

The following were taken from actual incident reports filed last week by the City of Charleston Police Department. These are not convictions and the names of businesses, complainants, and suspects have been left off to protect the innocent. All suspects are  innocent until proven guilty, of course.
December 29 | Theft from a motor vehicle
A Fox Hill Ridge Court man told police the morning after he parked his truck in front of his house, he discovered the driver’s side door open and the interior rummaged through. Missing from the truck was a semiautomatic .40 caliber pistol, loaded, with five additional loaded magazines, valued at a total of $500. Also missing from a backseat jewelry bag was a $1,000 “White and Gold Double Headed Eagle” ring, with Scottish inscriptions on its border and sides.
December 30 | Kidnapping
SWAT and bomb squads responded to a Royal Palm Boulevard apartment complex after a male resident called police to tell them he was “about to lose it” with his girlfriend. The two had been arguing about narcotics, he said. Police called back and the woman confirmed she was being held hostage. The man was heard saying the only way he was leaving the apartment was in a body bag, and the woman said he had threatened to blow up and burn down the building. When police arrived at the apartment, they established a safety perimeter around it due to concerns of him being armed and the door being booby-trapped. The man was arrested without incident.
December 30 | Theft from a motor vehicle
A Cathedral Lane man told police someone had broken into his work vehicle in front of his residence and removed a number of items, including three cellular phones and a pair of “his and her” Pierre Cardin oyster-faced watches.
December 31 | Embezzlement
Police received a signed statement from a former employee of a West Ashley super-store that she had embezzled more than $3,000 over a two-week period from her cash register. The woman had also been found to have an additional $500 in cash tucked into her sandal strap, which was allegedly from that day’s till.
December 31 | Traffic arrest
Police responded to a report of a crashed car near the gravel parking lot of the Parsons Road boat landing. A witness said a woman had been doing “doughnuts” in the car when it lost control and slammed into a tree. Police found the woman hiding behind a short bus at a nearby apartment complex. The woman said she had left the scene because of the “few beers” she had been drinking prior to the accident.
December 31 | All other larceny
A Tripe Street woman discovered someone had spent over $500 on her missing bank debit card. While at the bank that day, she discovered a “great number” of transactions on her card that she hadn’t made, including a $160 purchase at a local shoe store.
January 1 | DUI
A police officer found a car “at a sharp angle” in a drainage ditch near the intersection of Pebble Road and Risher Street. As the officer got closer, it became apparent that the driver, who admitted to drinking eight “pints” of Bud Light earlier, was still in the front seat, listening to the radio. The man became very certain of his address “while seated in the back of the patrol car.”