Two men from Florida and two from Mexico are still sought in a crackdown on a car-theft ring busted Tuesday, the FBI said today. ...more

March 25, 2009

Two decades ago, a group of car thieves hit on a way to steal cars and get away with it. It was a scheme that involved bogus vehicle identification numbers and multistate - even multinational - coordination. The result: millions in profit. ...more

March 25, 2009

Arrest warrants issued for 17 members of an international car-cloning ring - an organization that ran a cell in Tampa - were issued by the FBI today, laying open what had been a new and improved style of thievery that until recently went almost undetectable. ...more

March 24, 2009

A nonprofit county organization is offering up to $5,000 to anyone with information that may help locate a missing Holmes Beach woman. ...more

December 31, 2008

Investigators have determined that blood found in the stolen car of a missing Holmes Beach motel owner matches her DNA, the Manatee County Sheriff's Office said. ...more

December 3, 2008

Sheriff's investigators are looking into several possible sightings of the missing Holmes Beach motel owner who was last seen two weeks ago. ...more

November 19, 2008

MANATEE COUNTY - Police investigating the disappearance of an Anna Maria Island motel owner have found blood in her car and clothes belonging to her in the trunk. ...more

November 11, 2008

As the economy has sunk, burglary and theft have been on the rise, and Florida's top prosecutor warns that it could get worse. ...more

October 14, 2008

The combination of high gas prices and teens with empty pockets and wanderlust proved to be dangerous. ...more

October 9, 2008

I have watched the political landscape very closely this year, especially the sheriff's race. I have a concern for candidate Ron Grimming. First of all, he has lived in our county only two years and at the helm of the FHP lasted only four years, 1993-1997. Referred to as the first outsider when hired for this job, Grimming had the opportunity to respond to a reporter with the St. Pete Times after leaving office in regards to the criticism of his leadership. This researcher-reporter mentioned Grimming's "innovative attempts to modernize the FHP and splintering its focus, his weakening performance and his alienating of command staff." The writer gave Mr. Grimming three opportunities to respond, but he preferred not to defend this record of bringing in helicopters, community policing squadrons, a car theft hotline, taking troopers off the road and putting them in special units, angering Florida sheriffs. ...more

September 27, 2008