Port Orchard Police Report

An annoying smile, a fleeing semi and phone fraud

The following summaries were selected from Port Orchard Police Department reports filed by officers during the past week. The summaries were edited for brevity and clarity, and don’t represent all of the procedures enlisted by officers during the described incidents.

Nov. 16

A Port Orchard Police Department officer was alerted at 12:53 a.m. of a fight at a tavern at the 1600 block of Bay Street. Upon arrival, the officer discovered that although no fisticuffs had taken place, a very tall, very intoxicated man was being detained by his girlfriend from confronting a smaller man that he had been chasing around the bar.

As the smaller man came walking out from behind the bar, the officer recognized him from a previous assault case at a nearby drinking establishment. But this time, according to a second officer at the scene, the seeming aggressor — the tall guy — wasn’t being aggressive. It was instead the small fellow who had reportedly been walking about and speaking poorly about the tall man’s girlfriend, other women and a “lesbian.” The smaller man, an officer reported, is “passive-aggressive.” He’s known to have a constant smile on his face and endlessly laughs, but spews things to others that are “unkind or argumentative.”

This always-in-motion man told an officer that he was not a victim and just wanted everyone to go home. Remarking that he remembered the officer from their last contact, the man asked at least three times to shake his hand. But when asked his name and to provide identification, the man — with a smile and a grin — said he would only tell his name “under duress.” And he proceeded to give out information, one detail at a time while repeating “under duress” with each part of his identity.

Once it was determined there was no victim or crime at play, an officer asked the man to wait outside the establishment — apparently, he was talking loud enough to annoy the tall man. He then went inside, only to return after a couple of minutes. But this time, following behind were two men who were yelling at him, alleging he had been calling them profane names while they played pool. When the officer went back inside the tavern, the bartender asked that the man be criminally trespassed from the business. After being informed that he needed to take his happy grin and loud laugh elsewhere, the man was given a ride home by a designated driver.

Nov. 15

A man called 911 to report a hit-and-run collision occurring at the 1500 block of Sedgwick Road. He told the officer at the scene that he had stopped his vehicle for a stalled semi truck on Sedgwick. While waiting, he observed another semi approaching him from the rear at a pretty fast clip. After the two vehicles hit, the semi’s driver got out and asked the man if he was OK. The man said he wasn’t sure since he was still shaken up. But just as he moved his vehicle off the road, the semi-truck started up and began driving west on Sedgwick. The man said he last saw the truck cresting the hill. When he got his wits back, the man told the officer he attempted to find the fleeing truck but was unable to locate it.

The man said the truck didn’t have company markings and he wasn’t able to get the license plate number. Other officers were sent to locate the semi, but they, too, were unsuccessful. There are no leads so far in the case.

Nov. 14

At 6:18 p.m., officers were sent to the parking lot at the 3400 block of Bethel Road, where a police sergeant had witnessed a vehicle with a possible prowl suspect inside. An officer contacted the man inside the car, and while observing him through the passenger window, he could clearly see a loose credit card pinched between his chest and the bench seat. When the officer shone a flashlight on the card, it was clearly evident the card had a female’s name printed on it. The man admitted it was not his card and belonged to a victim of a vehicle prowl reported at 3:36 a.m. that morning. A Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office deputy was able to locate additional stolen property inside the vehicle. The man was arrested and transported to jail by the deputy.

Nov. 13

An employee at a local business reported a fraudulent theft of funds from the company. She told the officer that she’d received a telephone call from a male who identified himself as working for Puget Sound Energy. He reported that her business’s power bill had not been paid. The woman said the call seemed legitimate since the man offered all the right answers and provided information about the company — and knew the power bill had not been paid in the July timeframe. Lending credence to the man’s claims was that the company’s bookkeeper had retired around that time, so it seemed logical.

The male caller then asked the employee to call an 800 number to speak with a PSE supervisor. The person she reached told her to immediately go out and buy Green Dot cards, then call him back with the information on those cards. When she followed his instructions, he then gave her a confirmation number and said he would email her the bill confirmation. However, when the woman called PSE to confirm what had happened, she was told this play for money was a scam.

Unfortunately for the employee and the company, the bank confirmed that the money is gone forever. The woman subsequently turned over a copy of the receipts from the Green Dots cards, which the officer submitted with his report. The 800 number has since been disconnected. There are no leads in the case.