Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s going on in the county.
Crime overall is on the decline in Monroe County.
Sheriff Ramsay said, “Crime is down again this year in Monroe County. It is down by 4% putting us at a record low level of crime. So it’s one of the safest places to live, work and play. So we’re thankful for that, but yes, because of that, this is a slow news week for us in the sheriff’s office, we don’t have a lot of crime to talk about, so that’s a good thing from public safety. Maybe not as good for our listeners who want to hear some good stories, but we are doing a lot of good stuff here in the county.”
A man from Tallahassee was arrested for stealing and using multiple stolen credit cards in multiple Florida counties following a Monroe County Sheriff’s Office investigation.
Sheriff Ramsay said, “These cases are difficult, challenging. This is identity theft. These are people compromising PIN codes, compromising people’s bank accounts. This guy, he had cards he could encrypt the numbers on the back of. He had gift cards with the numbers compromised. So we had about seven people over a period of time that said that their bank information was compromised. So we started an investigation. It is very challenging to try to identify this person. We did get some footage from surveillance cameras, but he was wearing some heavy clothing, stuff, covering his face. Pretty hard to make him out of some of the pictures we did get. So as we continue the investigation, it led to multiple counties up to including where he finally got picked up in Leon County, around Tallahassee, there again, in the act of compromising ATM machine stealing money out of there. We’ve got some good surveillance footage from up in Leon County, where he was on the same bicycle, same clothing, same facial stuff covered his face, so we were able to identify the exact clothing and bikes that were used here on video up there as well. So this was multiple counties that were working on this. We got probable cause. We did get a warrant for his arrest for the seven victims down here in Monroe, as well as he’s arrested in Leon for charges up there. So this is a career criminal. That’s all he does is go around and try to steal your identity, get your information for your banks, ATM machines, and steal your money. And that’s how he makes a living, at everyone else’s deficit.”
A records clerk of the sheriff’s department was charged with battery from a domestic argument recently.
Sheriff Ramsay said, “This occurred in the city of Key West. They did arrest the female who was a record clerk for the Sheriff’s Office. It was a domestic disturbance case involved with her and her husband. They, I think, have been having some marital problems before this. This woman was cooking for the young kids in the house. One kid was sick. She’s trying to take care of the sick children, cook, clean, do everything in the house. She apparently asked her husband to help watch the young child while she was cooking for the family. He said, no, he would not help her at all. They got into an argument. There was a pushing that occurred, no violence or injuries, no one got injured, no signs of injuries, just an allegation of pushing. Key West Police elected to make a decision to arrest her for the battery, so she was booked into our jail. Again, this is not patrol division personnel. We want to always be transparent. And something happens in the sheriff’s office family, we want people here from us first.”
A man from the mainland of Florida was attempting to run an E bike rider off the road recently.
Sheriff Ramsay said, “These two people had history together. They knew each other and did not like each other, and the individual in the truck had a restraining order against the guy in the E bike. The guy’s riding his E bike, and the person in the truck sees him and allegedly turns around and starts coming up behind him and allegedly trying to run him off the road. The E bike alleges that he had to make multiple evasive maneuvers, U turns, and the truck continued to make those turns as well. Coming at him. He was in fear for his safety, trying to strike him. So we got calls, we got some surveillance footage from one of the local stores. We talked to the people involved, and the officers believed the person’s account. At the end of the day it was little unusual, wondering why the person in the truck who had the restraining order against the other person was following that person. If you have an order to say have no contact, why are you following the person that is not supposed to have contact with you? So it was a little unusual. But these are tough because we’re just not there. We have to make a decision, and when someone alleges a violent crime or someone’s life is in jeopardy, we have to make a probable cause decision at the time, so we’ll see how it plays out. There’s two sides to a story. The person on the E bike says that they were the victim. Person in the truck says he didn’t do anything wrong. We’ll have to see how this gets laid out in court, but we have to de escalate these situations. We have to see what the courts figure out. But someone alleges that someone’s trying to run them over, that’s a pretty serious charge.”
The story of Savannah Guthrie and her mother, Nancy Guthrie being kidnapped has captivated the whole country.
Sheriff Ramsay said, “I suspect they’re probably keeping a lot of information close to the vest, I suspect they’re only putting out stuff which is relevant for the investigation, but they shouldn’t really be putting information out there saying they’ve got a person of interest or not. I understood there was, like a $6 million ransom reward, is what they requested. Allegedly want to get paid in Bitcoin so they can’t track the money. These are interesting cases. It seems like the person or persons involved had a lot of information about this young lady. A lot of times these are inside people that either are caregivers, have some friend or even family member, that know the ins and outs, knows everything about the home, the person. So we’ll have to see how it lays out. Generally, when you have the kidnapping cases like this, there’s somebody who’s part of it, who is somehow either a family friend or related in some manner or doing some type of work around the house. It’s very seldom that it was just a random person who just picked you out. It’s a sad case for sure, to see this family go through one of the most difficult times in their lives. I suspect they probably know more than they’re saying.”
The Citizen’s Police Academy will start in April.
Sheriff Ramsay said, “These are great times to get together. It’s six to nine, one day a week for like five weeks, we’ll get together and we’ll have fun. We’ll have hands on. It’s team building and meeting the sheriff’s office personnel. We’re making action, adrenaline, excitement. It’s a very unique class. There’s nothing but positive responses from the classes. We do make it available on three parts of the county. Tuesday, Lower Keys, Wednesday, Middle Keys and Thursday, Upper Keys, so our people can get to these classes without having to drive too far. But these are one of the best relationship builders ever, and the citizens just are overwhelmed to see what the sheriff’s office does, what our capacity is, and they have just an extremely awesome time, because we make it so action orientated. Again, with all the hands on activities, there’s a very little lecturing going on. You’re doing something every night you’re there. We’re proud of that program. So yes, if you have interest, stop by our stations, ask for the lieutenant or captain, you can get the application or ask some more questions and show up. We’d love to host you.”