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.
The Unum Insurance Company sent more than 60 volunteers from around the nation to the Sheriff’s Office Animal Farm to make more than $20,000 of improvements.
Sheriff Ramsay said, “I tell you, what a great group of people, this insurance company does this on a regular basis to find nonprofits or organizations that they believe in, that they think are good for community, and they send out their people to do community work, community relations, community partnerships, and they go out to spread goodwill and cheer, and they came up with about 60 volunteers from the company who were brought down to do work on the farm, and besides that, there’s $20,000 worth of products, items that they donate for the event, and they come down, and they broke up into multiple teams, working on the farm, cleaning, doing new stuff, putting in benches. They just did so much work out there, and they were so excited to be there. I went out, spent time with them, did a quick little video, thanked them, just the greatest bunch of people that just want to do good and want to be part of something good, and that’s what they do. They go out and do this on a regular basis, and there’s a lot of competition to get these awards, these grants. And we were lucky enough to be selected, and I talked to some of the volunteers, and they said they’ve done a lot of stuff, a lot of stuff in schools and cleanups, but they said this is one of the most unusual ones they’ve ever done, one of the most rewarding. Everyone loves animals. They were just loving seeing the animals and hearing about the farm and what it does. And so my team members at the farm were so excited to get this overhaul. It was like a farm makeover where we cleaned everything, painted everything, new benches, working on all the habitats for the animals, so it was exciting to see, and it made you feel good, for sure.”
A 38-year-old Big Pine Key man was arrested last week for DUI with a person under 18 in the vehicle, as well as resisting arrest, child neglect, threatening law enforcement officers, threatening a law enforcement officer’s family, and refusal to submit to a breath test.
Sheriff Ramsay said, “This is definitely not a good parenting endeavor. He’s got care, custody, control of a six year old child, and instead of being a responsible parent, he’s being the irresponsible parent, drinking excessively, smoking marijuana. Some people were concerned, saw him with his child, child in the vehicle, no seat belt. People were concerned about the safety of his well-being and safety to citizens with his impairment. So we were called, and we put a BOLO, be on the lookout for, and we located the vehicle around the Big Pine area, and we stopped the vehicle. We did clearly see quickly in signs of impairment, strong odor of marijuana coming out of the car. We saw a six year old child in the back seat, no seat belt in the vehicle, and very combative immediately with officers, refusing to cooperate, wouldn’t get out of the vehicle initially, turned into a threat against law enforcement officers, threats against their family, just resisting, was arrested for DUI, other related child neglect, making threats to officers and their families, and whatnot, a refusal to submit to a breath test. So it’s sad that this young man, this six year old child, has to see this, and he’s old enough where he’s going to remember this. At six years old, you’re going to remember this: your dad fighting with the cops, being an ass, going to jail, just traumatizing for this young man. We contacted the mother, the grandmother came out, picked up this child, and we had to notify DCF Children Family Services about this as well, trying to get some DCF intervention. This just a total disregard for the safety of the child in the car, and just selfish. This is a selfish act for himself and putting his child and the general public at risk, so again, this this individual does not seem to be a good person, and really, really sad to have to see this, but I’m glad we can get some intervention, get him off the road before he killed somebody, maybe his own child or a citizen, hold him accountable, get the courts involved, get DCF involved. If he wants to be a father, he needs to do a lot better.”
Two individuals from Massachusetts were arrested last week for burglarizing a Mercedes sedan parked at a Key Largo vehicle repair shop, then starting a dumpster fire by throwing a lit cigar into the dumpster.
Sheriff Ramsay said, “This is up around the 101 mile marker, thereabouts, bayside. They had a Mercedes that was there for repair. A male was seen inside the vehicle, was seen rummaging through the vehicle, taking stuff out, giving it to the female, and we had security footage as well. We got called, at some point in time, shows him going to the dumpster and throwing something in there and igniting the dumpster, which turned into a fire, so we had an arson go on them at the same time we had auto burglary and theft. We did get these two individuals from Massachusetts, both 36 year old male and female, and ultimately they both were arrested for multiple charges of burglary and arson and theft. So just really stupid, what are you going to get rifling through a car? It’s just not much. And is it worth it going to jail for burglary and arson? No. And the answer is probably no. So you’re down on vacation and you’re going to leave on probation. You’ve got to come back for court dates, to appear back here in court. You’ll be on probation here, you’re likely to violate that eventually at some point time, or fail to appear, which means you’re going to get a warrant for your arrest for either failed to appear or a violation of probation. It’s a good solid case of witnesses and videos, and again we say for what, for nothing. So we’re just glad to get those two numbskulls in the care, custody, control of the sheriff, and the sheriff’s office, and get them down to our bed and breakfast, where they’re better off being held right now.”
Remember to keep your property and boats locked up to avoid a crime of opportunity.
Sheriff Ramsay said, “It’s that time of year, summer, people doing more fishing, so waters are calmer for going offshore. So most of our reports we’ve had from the Upper Keys, we’re starting to see a few boats that had their rod and reels stolen from the boats, and the rod and reels were left on the boat, in plain sight, visible, really easy to steal. That’s why we always talk about crimes of opportunity. A lot of times the crimes in the Keys are so preventable, whether it be the burglary or the Mercedes unlocked. If you just locked it, they wouldn’t have burglarized it. If you just take your rods and reels, put them in the garage, put them somewhere they can’t be seen, put them below deck, you’ll just save yourself a lot of hassle and aggravation. So, we are dealing again with mostly fishing gear being stolen from vessels, which are just left clearly in plain view and easy to grab. So, yeah, we do want people to be a little bit more secure of your property and help us prevent crimes from occurring.”
There have also been marine cases as well.
Sheriff Ramsay said, “Had an individual who was harvesting a lobster out of season, undersized, no license, no measuring device. So we dealt with him the other day, gave him notice to appear. So we continue to try to work closely with our marine partners at FWC and the Coast Guard to try to protect our resources and do the best we can. We see poaching almost every week, we’re talking about some poaching related cases, and we’re just scratching the surface because we can’t be everywhere, and chances of us being at the right place at the right time are relatively low, people see you come in, they dump, but we are going to be vigilant. We’re going to continue to try to protect our citizens, our assets, our resources, whether it be on land or sea.”