The Unusual suspect: Raccoon burgles Palm Bay office; police called

What initially was a call to investigate a possible burglary turned out to be a rascally raccoon on the loose inside of a Palm Bay property management office.

A concerned employee called 9-1-1 for help after arriving about 8:30 a.m. at the All Florida Properties, Inc., office at 1071 Port Malabar Boulevard. The worker found ceiling tiles collapsed in and papers riffled and strewn about.

“It looked like someone was searching for a specific paper…maybe an employee,” said Lt. Mike Bandish of the Palm Bay Police Department. However, the bumbling burglar turned out to be a raccoon as Palm Bay police quickly responded to the scene and immediately began going room to room in a bid to find a possible reason for the office being in disarray.

“They did a search and found the raccoon hiding behind a plant. We think it was a mother and has more babies in the attic,” Bandish said.

An officer captured the raccoon with a catch pole and then led him out of the office and into the wooded area behind the building. Brevard County Animal Services were searching the attic portion of the building.

Contact Gallop at 321-242-3642, jdgallop@floridatoday.com and Twitter@JDGallop