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.
July 22 | Larceny by false pretenses
A local scuba shop became suspicious when a caller from out of state said their credit card number had been used to purchase equipment from the store. A review of recent transactions found that someone might have fraudulently purchased close to $22,000 in equipment in seven transactions over seven days with seven different credit card numbers.
July 23 | Shoplifting
A clerk at a Sam Rittenberg Boulevard convenience store became suspicious when she never saw a man who entered the store’s beer cooler room actually leave the store. Later in the evening, the man returned and disappeared again. Police reviewed surveillance video and saw the man leave through the store’s back door with two separate hauls of stolen beer. Police said the man was able to make off with five and a half cases of beer.
July 23 | Missing person
A woman living in Grand Oaks reported that her male friend who had just checked out of a drug treatment program had gone missing. The man was tracked earlier that day to a motel where he had apparently huffed three cans of compressed air. The man was returned to the treatment center, but soon left again, this time with his motorcycle and could not be located.
July 23 | Drunkenness
Police responded to a report of a man walking in traffic drunkenly with his arms in the air along Savannah Highway near the entrance to Parkwood Estates.  When officers spoke to the man, he couldn’t remember which bar he’d come from, how to spell his name, or where he lived.
July 23 | Injured party
Police responded to a Pristine View Road residence after it was reported that a woman there was having a “psychological” episode. The woman was reportedly flipping furniture and throwing potted plants around the house with her grown daughter and grandchild present. Her daughter picked up her daughter from the floor so furniture wouldn’t hit her. During her episode, the woman apparently injured her foot and had to be taken to the hospital.
July 23 | Assisting other agencies
An officer spotted a female motorist driving in the parking lot of an under construction car dealership on Savannah Highway. When asked what she was doing, the woman said she was just turning around, and that she didn’t know that she wasn’t supposed to be on the property. A quick check of her and her passenger’s identification resulted in her passenger being arrested, as he had an active warrant for assault and battery.
July 23 | Embezzlement
A manager at a Sam Rittenberg discount store reported that close to $4,500 in bank deposits never made it to the bank. The employee who was supposed to have dropped off the two deposits denied any wrongdoing. Video showed the employee carrying one of the bags out the door in the back of his pants, which the manager said was the usual way employees carry the moneybags.
July 23 | Attempted suicide
A worker at a Savannah Highway motel called police after a border called the front desk requesting medical help after ingesting a large amount of pills. Police arrived and the employee opened the room with a master key, whereupon police found the man lying in bed, very weak. Police also found a handwritten note that said the man, who had lost a job and been arrested within the last week, was tired of feeling alone.
July 23 | Death investigation
An Xavier Street resident saw their neighbor sitting on his back porch on his back porch with his head tilted back. The resident checked, and the man wasn’t breathing and didn’t have a pulse. Medical workers pronounced the man dead. The resident said he had a long history with cardiac problems.