There’s the Florida Man, and then there’s the Florida Keys Man (ladies, don’t worry, we didn’t forget about you). Without fail, our Year in Review editions unearth golden nuggets of stories we almost forgot about over the last 52 weeks. You know – the kind that make you scratch your head and say “wait … what?”
Home on the (gun) range? The oddities started right away when a trio on Little Torch Key were arrested for firing an AR-15 rifle at homemade targets. Things were going swimmingly – until a stray bullet found its way through the wall of an unsuspecting neighbor’s home. There were no reported injuries.
Crikey! MCSO deputies deal with more than just speeders and the occasional cocaine brick – a LOT more. Sergeant James Hager channeled his inner Steve Irwin during a call of a crocodile lounging in a pool at a Key Largo home on Jan. 31. Hager and a resident were seen on video using long-handled tools to shoo the crocodile away from the property and back toward the water.
Dance like it’s your birthday (suit). A 55-year-old Montgomery, New York man was arrested in March after MCSO received calls about a reckless driver on U.S. 1 in Key Largo. When deputies arrived, they found Timothy Mahoney wearing a construction hard hat, but otherwise nude, dancing to music. He tried to continue smoking marijuana from a pipe while being detained, deputies said.
Timing is everything. A 40-year-old Marathon man and 27-year-old Marathon woman were arrested 15 minutes before the midnight opening of the commercial and regular lobster season on Aug. 6 for allegedly robbing lobster traps on the bayside of Grassy Key in the vicinity of the Quay boat ramp. According to deputies, Dorgis Rodriguez Lugones refused commands by dumping a lobster trap aboard his 17-foot boat back into the water in plain view, before also emptying a cooler full of poached lobster back into the water and putting his hands on his head. The court case is pending.
Getting freaky in public. A Middle Keys woman was arrested twice in five months for allegedly engaging in sex acts in public view – first in August at a Marathon gas station, and later in December with two men mid-day in the parking lot of the Marathon Winn Dixie.
He’s with me, man. An unlicensed contracting investigation in Islamorada turned into a chaotic car chase for MCSO in late September, as a Fort Lauderdale trio jumped in a truck and led deputies on a ride through the Upper Keys. A mother and son were eventually arrested after the truck’s tires were spiked and it came to a stop, but the father ran off, later changing his clothes and fishing near another man who told officers the pair had been fishing for hours. Deputies soon realized 46-year-old Butch Anthony Stevens was the runaway they’d been searching for – and also handed 69-year-old Felix Esquijarosa a notice to appear in court for his alleged role in the cover-up.
Oh, you wanted this back? A Florida City man was arrested in November after allegedly getting behind the wheel of a taxi in Marathon and driving it to the Upper Keys. Deputies said the report of a stolen taxi came in from Overseas Highway in Marathon. The taxi’s keys were left inside with the doors unlocked, and that’s when 43-year-old Misael Asaria Bocio allegedly got inside the vehicle and went for a ride. The taxi was spotted by deputies in Islamorada driving erratically. Deputies stopped the vehicle and later identified the driver as Bocio. He was arrested and charged with grand theft auto and driving with a suspended license.
