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Vigilant 5th-Grader Honored

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 21, 2007

ST. PETERSBURG - If she wants it, 10-year-old Madison A. Fernandez has a future as a crime watch coordinator.

Thursday morning, St. Petersburg police Chief Chuck Harmon recognized the Bay Vista Fundamental Elementary School fifth-grade pupil with a special award for her vigilance in November.

Harmon surprised Madison in her classroom with the presentation.

About 11:30 a.m. Nov. 18, Madison saw a man enter a garage on Coffee Pot Riviera Street Northeast, take out a bicycle and then ride off on it, St. Petersburg police spokesman Bill Proffitt said.

She then gave police a detailed description, but patrol officers couldn't find him. Two days later, he returned to the neighborhood.

Madison, playing in the front yard with a friend, spotted him looking at the same garage.

"We knew he was going to steal again," Madison said Thursday after the presentation. "We ran to the house screaming we saw the guy."

She also said she was "kinda scared" seeing the man again.

She told her mother, who notified the neighbor, and police were called, Proffitt said. The neighbor followed the man until police arrived. He was arrested and charged with loitering and prowling, Proffitt said.

Madison provided a witness statement to police and identified the man as the same one who had taken the bicycle, Proffitt said. She even noticed he was wearing the same boots he had on when he took it, Proffitt said.

The man told police he took the bicycle and had burglarized two homes. He was identified as Roshawn Cromartie, 27, and was charged with two counts of residential burglary. He is suspected of others throughout downtown and in the city's Old Northeast neighborhoods, Proffitt said.

The $600 bicycle was not recovered.

"Madison's actions are to be commended in that she did not place herself in danger but rather she promptly reported her observations to her mother and the police were then notified," Proffitt wrote in a statement.

Her mother, Barbara, said Madison is a highly observant child. She was proud of what her daughter did.

"She knows when you see something, you do the right thing. She did some good for our community," Barbara Fernandez said Thursday.

In addition to the certificate, Madison was made an honorary St. Petersburg Police Department detective.

"Even if you don't get a prize or anything, you know in your heart you did the right thing," she said.

Reporter Neil Johnson contributed to this report. Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at spthompson@tampatrib.com or (727) 451-2336.

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