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First Coast Connect

ONLY IN FLORIDA: Thief Smuggles Sushi In His Pants

Is that sushi in your pants, or are you just happy to see me? We're putting fish in strange places in this week's ONLY IN FLORIDA.

ONLY IN FLORIDA is our weekly roundup of the strange, bizarre and just plain ridiculous headlines from right here in the Sunshine State.

ONLY IN FLORIDA do people open up their local paper to find out their city’s leadership is still actively involved in the Ku Klux Klan.

Residents in the small Central Florida town of Fruitland Park were stunned this week to learn that police officer George Hunnewell and deputy police chief David Borst were Klansman. Both have now left the department.

The disclosure of the officers' Klan ties harkened back to the 1940's and 1950's, when hate crimes against African Americans in the small Lake County town were common. (WFTV)

ONLY IN FLORIDA do college students get assigned to live in a bathroom.

Two new freshmen at UCF down in Orlando got a little concerned when they got their room assignment a few weeks ago, but no information about a roommate.

When she called the school, the campus housing department explained that she’d been placed in a bathroom.

A UCF spokesman says a handful of students were assigned to rooms that do not actually exist.. the school blamed a computer glitch.. and says they are trying to find the kids real housing by mid-August. (Orlando Sentinel)

ONLY IN FLORIDA do would-be shoplifters hide their sushi in their pants.

Fort Walton Beach officers were called to Publix Shopping Center on July 19 for a retail theft, according to an arrest report.

A manager told officers she saw Anthony Arnold Poucher select a chef sampler package of sushi.

She said he then "concealed it in the front of his pants," the report said. She said he passed all the registers and walked out the door without attempting to pay. Poucher is charged with retail theft. (Northwest Florida Daily News)

Send your ONLY IN FLORIDA suggestions to firstcoastconnect@wjct.org.

You can follow Melissa Ross on Twitter @MelissainJax and Patrick Donges at @patrickhdonges.

Melissa Ross joined WJCT in 2009 with 20 years of experience in broadcasting, including stints in Cincinnati, Chicago, Orlando and Jacksonville. During her career as a television and radio news anchor and reporter, Melissa has won four regional Emmys for news and feature reporting.
Patrick Donges served as WJCT's Digital Content Editor from August 2013 - August 2014.