On Wednesday, Clearwater Police arrested a man after they found him driving a stolen vehicle. The man was wanted in connection to a break-in at a private residence in Safety Harbor. The home owner's car had been swiped.
It was a routine arrest, where they cuffed the perp, threw him in the car, and took him to the police station for booking.
But as the man passed through the office's security scanner's x-ray machine, police noticed something lodged in his stomach: two necklaces that were missing from the person's home that had been broken into.
According to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, Joseph Bravo Ramos, 20, had apparently swallowed the necklaces he allegedly (allegedly?) took from the home.
The x-ray scanner, which is used to make sure suspects don't have any contraband in their pockets, such as drugs or a weapon, revealed what the police report called a "large dark mass" inside Ramos.
It's not clear when Ramos did this. But, most likely, when Ramos saw the cops pulling him over, he sucked down the pair of necklaces like spaghetti.
Ramos had to be taken to an area hospital to have the necklaces surgically removed. Cops then took the necklaces to the victim, who ID'd them as hers. Hopefully, the cops washed the necklaces first.
The RAD PRO SecurPass Whole Body X-Ray Scanner, installed in the Pinellas County Jail in June, is able to pick up metals, pills, plastics, drugs, and any other thing that doesn't belong on a suspect's person. Or, as it was in this case, in a suspect's person.
Ramos was charged with one count of burglary and one count of tampering with physical evidence. According to the report, he remains in the Pinellas County Jail at this time.
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