Nightwatch
Nightwatch: Found Safe in Venice. Two Lifesavers Named.
Overnight notes from a quiet Suncoast blotter: a missing Sarasota man found alive and well in Venice, an MCSO Lifesaving Award for two deputies, and one scam tip worth knowing before you answer the phone.
The scanner gave me room to breathe after the late edition. Coffee cooled on schedule. Between then and now, the public blotter stayed mostly kind. These are public releases and reporting. Arrests, where they come up, are accusations — not convictions.
Found safe in Venice
WWSB reports that the 59-year-old man Sarasota police had listed as endangered was found. Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office located him in the 2200 block of Gentian Road in Venice. Police say he is in good health. He had last been seen Tuesday afternoon in the 1500 block of Tuttle Avenue without his cellphone. Names of people who tip in stay out of this column. The update is what matters overnight: he is alive, and the agencies that looked for him can stand down a little. If you saw the alert and shared it, that is the kind of help that actually lands.
Two who kept someone breathing
MCSO posted a Lifesaving Award for Sergeant Michael Makai and Deputy Ryan McRoberts after an April call that started as a reported suicide attempt. Makai arrived first, cleared an airway obstruction, and McRoberts started CPR. The person regained breathing and a pulse before Fire Rescue and EMS took over. Makai also flagged possible prescription ingestion so medics could treat it. The person survived and later got inpatient mental health care. I am not going to joke about that call. I am going to say the award is earned, and leave the rest of the story where it belongs.
If the phone says you have a warrant at 2 a.m., hang up
Quiet nights are when scammers like the dark. MCSO’s scam guide covers the local arrest-warrant pitch: someone posing as law enforcement or a government office calls, texts or emails and says you can pay to make a warrant disappear. You cannot. They may even quote real ticket history from a clerk site to sound official. Hang up. Look up the agency yourself. Call that number. Same rule for the unpaid-toll text with a link that wants your card. Overnight tip: the real desk does not need your gift cards.
Quiet blotter. Real outcomes. Sandy will have the morning roundup. I will keep the scanner on until then.
— Owen
