Commissioner Sends Letter to Victim of Bougainvillea Theft

BRADENTON  — A west Bradenton resident and victim of petty theft committed by his district county commissioner has received a letter from Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge. The letter was a special condition of the pretrial diversion agreement Van Ostenbridge entered into in order to avoid a charge of misdemeanor larceny. 

 

In January, Commissioner Van Ostenbridge (R-Dist. 3) agreed to the stipulated conditions of his pretrial program which included three months of probation, 25 hours of community service, an 8-hour class, payment of associated fees for investigation and monitoring, and a special condition requiring the commissioner write an apology letter to the victim. 

 

The letter begins, "My name is Kevin Van Ostenbridge. Obviously, we are familiar with one another by now. We have spoken several times in the course of your political activism." 

 

Van Ostenbridge included in the letter his account of what occurred on Sept. 22, 2022. He described the victim’s property as having been "unkept" and utilized as an "illegal dumping site" and "occasionally as a homeless camp" in the past. He follows those comments by thanking the victim for "improvements" he had made to the property in "these last few weeks." 

 

TBT first reported on the alleged theft in Oct. 2022 and followed our reporting with a public Facebook post which provided a satellite overview of the property and the bougainvillea as it was placed prior to being taken without permission. Upon visiting the property site ourselves when originally reporting the story, TBT did not witness a property in disarray or that appeared to be abandoned. 

 

Van Ostenbridge's letter went on to explain, "While walking my dog on your vacant lot, I saw what appeared to be a recently illegally dumped potted plant. The plant was located on the southern edge of your lot near a large drainage ditch…I assumed the plant had been left there to die."

 

As TBT showed in the Facebook post, the potted bougainvillea was significant in size/height, was covered in flowers, had a mulched top cover, and was positioned along a fence at the edge of a paved parking lot. The drainage ditch is more than 20 feet beyond and behind the fence the plant was placed against. 

 

TBT has obtained additional videos recorded by Zach Richardson, the owner of the lot and bougainvillea, that he said he recorded the day he arrived at Van Ostenbridge's home with police to retrieve his plant. The first video, Richardson said, shows Van Ostenbridge wheeling the bougainvillea from his backyard to the front of the house in order to return the plant. Richardson said he was told the gentleman holding open the backyard gate for Van Ostenbridge was the commissioner’s attorney. 

 

 

The second short video Richardson provided to TBT is footage of the attorney—who Richardson said facilitated the return of his stolen property—driving the potted bougainvillea in his own truck back to Richardson’s lot. The video also provides a view of the condition of the lot the day after the theft had taken place. 

 

 

Per the agreement, the requirements of Van Ostenbridge’s letter to the victim were: 

 

(1) The defendant should introduce himself and give a detailed account of the situation; (2) Acknowledge the hurt or damage done; (3) Take responsibility for his actions; (4) Address what he could have done differently; (5) Talk about what he has learned from the experience; AND (6) Add his own thoughts and feelings about any remorse he has and how he hopes to repair the harm caused. 

 

In his letter, Van Ostenbridge wrote that his action of taking the plant without permission "may have caused personal or emotional harm." He wrote that causing harm was not his intention and that any harm caused by his actions, he believed, was made right the following day when he returned the plant. Van Ostenbridge also asserted that, after it was returned, Richardson's bougainvillea "later died of neglect." 

 

Concerning what he should have done differently—instead of entering a parcel marked with a private property sign to take something that did not belong to him—Van Ostenbridge wrote that, in hindsight, he should have instead "made a code enforcement complaint" with the city against Richardson’s property. 

 

The letter closes by offering, "I am sure we are all glad to be putting this behind us and as we do, I wish you both nothing but the best."

 

On Oct. 5, 2022, TBT reported on the alleged theft after obtaining video footage that appeared to have captured Van Ostenbridge entering private property at approximately 10:30 pm with his truck and driving off with a large potted bougainvillea plant. 

 

In total, the video footage appeared to show the commissioner had entered the property three times on the date of the incident—at 5:27 pm a truck alleged to belong to the commissioner was seen driving onto the property, at roughly 9:45 pm Van Ostenbridge is seen on foot walking his dog on the property and kicking aside a traffic cone from the center of the driveway, and the final video again showing the same truck driving off with potted plant at 10:30 pm. 

 

Speaking to TBT by email, Richardson said that based on his understanding of the spirit and intent of the special conditions as outlined in the pretrial agreement, he does not believe the letter he received from Van Ostenbridge meets the requirements. 

 

When asked about some of the specific points raised by Van Ostenbridge in his letter, Richardson expressed confusion and frustration. We asked Richardson to elaborate on what the commissioner may have been referencing, or whether he has engaged in "political activism."

 

"I have never been a political activist and have no clue what he is inferring. If standing up for my property and rights is political activism, then sure," Richardson wrote in an email to TBT. 

 

Concerning the condition of his property, Richardson added, "We have never had an issue with homeless camps or illegal dumping on our property since we purchased it in June '22. We keep the property maintained and clean in accordance with our HOA, and have never had an issue with our HOA."

 

Richardson also told TBT that he believes someone who is a realtor, such as Van Ostenbridge, should have known how to find the property owner to reach out if he had concerns about the lot itself or anything on it. As for apologizing the day Richardson confronted Van Ostenbridge at his home to retrieve his bougainvillea, Richardson agrees that initially when he arrived at Van Ostenbridge’s home Van Ostenbridge "tossed his hands up" and said "I apologize," but from his perspective, Richardson said he felt the commissioner was more sorry for being identified and caught for what he had done than genuinely apologetic.  

 

Speaking to TBT by phone, State Attorney Ed Brodsky confirmed that his office had received the letter and accepted it under the conditions of the pretrial agreement. 

 

"Our office has determined the letter to meet the conditions and requirements of the pretrial diversion agreement. We are pleased that this situation was able to reach a fair conclusion for all parties involved."