Manatee Commission Chair Facing Possible Larceny Charges

BRADENTON – Another of Manatee County’s commissioners may be facing legal consequences after being accused of stealing property from a constituent within their own district. District 3 commissioner and Manatee County Commission Chair Kevin Van Ostenbridge is the suspect of a theft incident reported to the Bradenton Police Department on September 23.

Van Ostenbridge has appeared upfront in several public scandals in his short term as a county commissioner, including the firing of the former county administrator and a subsequent lawsuit over public records–which ended in a settlement–and a very public feud involving threats of withholding funding toward officials of Holmes Beach.

Most recently, in early September, Van Ostenbridge was on the receiving end of public criticism when it was revealed that he referred to former County Commissioner Betsy Benac–who also once served as the board chair–using an offensive/derogatory word for a female (c*nt). Van Ostenbridge wrote the insult to a county employee in a text message in reference to an Op-ed written by Benac about county administration. The text message was released as part of a public record request.

On the evening of Thursday, September 22, Van Ostenbridge was captured on surveillance video entering a privately owned parking lot/parcel located approximately two miles from his home. TBTobtained copies of surveillance video clips that show what is alleged to be Van Ostenbridge's pickup truck coming to the property twice and, on its last trip, leaving the property with a large bougainvillea bush towering over the cab in the bed of the truck. On the second visit to the property, Van Ostenbridge is seen without his truck, walking his dog onto the property.

The first video clip, captured at 5:27 p.m., shows a pickup truck reportedly belonging to Van Ostenbridge enter the property in question. The truck drove around a traffic cone placed in the middle of the driveway just feet away from a yellow "Private Property- Keep Out" sign positioned at the edge and entrance of the driveway. The truck is seen driving toward the back of the property, out of the surveillance camera's view. At the rear of the property are a fence and a large, potted bougainvillea.

Approximately four hours later, at 9:48 p.m., Van Ostenbridge is captured on video surveillance walking his dog, and entering the property in question. Van Ostenbridge is seen kicking the traffic cone away from the middle and front of the driveway's entrance before walking to the back of the property where the bougainvillea sat while talking on his cell phone.

At 10:30 p.m., the same pickup truck captured by the camera at 5:27 p.m. returned to the property an hour after Van Ostenbridge was captured visiting the property on foot with his dog. The traffic cone and "Private Property" sign the pickup truck drives past to enter the property can be seen in the glow of the truck’s headlight beams. The pickup truck drives toward the back of the property, out of the surveillance camera's view, toward the potted bougainvillea.

At 10:33 p.m., the pickup truck reportedly belonging to Van Ostenbridge is seen exiting the property with an approximately 5-6 foot tall, bushy, bougainvillea plant towering from the bed of the vehicle.

In an incident report obtained by TBT, more details were revealed about the alleged theft–including that the bougainvillea plant was recovered from the backyard of Van Ostenbridge’s Bradenton home.

While the victim's name and identifying information are redacted from the report, Van Ostenbridge’s information is available, including "larceny" as the category of offense. The report was completed on September 23, the afternoon following Van Ostenbridge apparently taking the bougainvillea from the victim’s property to his own home.

The victim reported to police having seen what they believed to be Van Ostenbridge’s truck and person captured in footage from the trail camera placed on the property. The victim said they were able to identify Van Ostenbridge based on prior interactions with the commissioner and suspected that Van Ostenbridge may have targeted the property intentionally as retaliation. The incident report contains no description of the nature of the victim and Van Ostenbridge's prior interactions.

The victim told the responding officer that the property was purchased in June of 2022. The bougainvillea, said the property owner, had only been placed on the property roughly a month prior to the incident.

Van Ostenbridge, however, alleged to the responding officers that he had been contacted by a doctor-friend who told Van Ostenbridge a bougainvillea bush had been abandoned at the property. Van Ostenbridge claimed that having been told by his friend about the abandoned bougainvillea, he decided he would collect the plant and take care of it. The incident report does not state whether Van Ostenbridge provided the name of the doctor-friend to the police.

An additional video clip reviewed by TBT, showed Van Ostenbridge standing in his front yard while an officer questioned whether he was still in possession of the plant. Van Ostenbridge stood, hands clasped at his waist, smiling as he answered, "I watered it last night, it's in great shape."

The incident report completed by the officer describes Van Ostenbridge going into his house shortly after legal counsel arrived at the commissioner's home. The officer reported that once an attorney (referred to only as "Mr. Flynn" in the report) arrived on the scene, interactions with Van Ostenbridge were directed through his counsel.

Van Ostenbridge's attorney then told the officer that he (the attorney) would return the bougainvillea bush to the victim's property. The potted plant was loaded into a truck by "Mr. Flynn" and returned to its original location.

Although the property owner had placed a traffic cone and yellow "Private Property" sign at the entrance of his property, there was no mention of either in the incident report. In his report, the officer with the Bradenton Police Department included, "While viewing this location it is possible that someone may have believed that the bush had been abandoned..."

TBT was able through its own investigation to identify the property in question. TBT first visited the property on October 2, just four days after Hurricane Ian made landfall in Florida. Upon approaching the property, the yellow "Private Property" sign was immediately in view, an orange traffic cone was centered at the front of the driveway, and a potted bougainvillea bush sat beside a fence at the rear of the property.

In spite of some trash observed near the neighboring lot, the property in question was notably without any trash and appeared to be maintained. The grass was mowed more recently than its neighboring lot and weeds were not noticed as growing through the parking lot pavement, or around the parking blocks. The parking blocks appeared to be relatively new and undamaged. A tree near the driveway showed dried, dead vines as though someone had cleaned the tree in recent months. An orange traffic cone was placed near the front of the driveway, centered, just a few feet from the "Private Property" sign.

Although the bougainvillea bush appeared stripped of much of its leaves and had no flowers remaining after the hurricane, video footage reviewed by TBT showed that the night the plant was removed from the property–and the afternoon it was returned–the plant was very full and covered in flowers. In addition, video footage captured by the trail camera placed on the property appears to show the parcel and its grass in similar condition on the night of the incident as observed by TBT on October 2.

The incident report described the victim as being "unsure" initially whether they wanted to press charges against Van Ostenbridge for taking the bougainvillea bush, but ultimately decided they would move forward with seeking prosecution for the theft. The property owner is protected by Marcy's Law, and their identity, home address, and the location of the incident are protected from disclosure.

With the criminal complaint having been filed with the Bradenton Police Department, the report and evidence will be forwarded to the state attorney's office where it will be determined whether the incident will be prosecuted.

TBT reached out to Commissioner Van Ostenbridge by email Tuesday seeking any comment on the incident and the name of the doctor-friend who Van Ostenbridge told the police officer informed him the plant and property were "abandoned."

Van Ostenbridge responded to our request in an email, writing, "This is a silly misunderstanding. I thought someone dumped the bush near a ditch and it had no owner. I only intended to give an abandoned plant a good home. As soon as I was made aware that the bush had a proper owner I returned it."

On TBT's visit to the property, we observed the pottedbougainvillea bush against a clean, wooden fence at the back of the property. While there is a ditch behind the property, it is feet behind and below the back edge of the property and fence. In the video footage obtained by TBT of the alleged incident, both the "Private Property" sign and traffic cone are seen as having been on the property the night of the incident. Van Ostenbridge would have driven or walked past the items each time he visited the property on September 22.