Horseplay on the boat leads to reprimands for two CCSO employees

A new twist of events has surfaced regarding the two men rescued in local waters last week by the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office.

As it turns out, two of the women who were on the boat that left the men in the water as a joke are employed by the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office.

Erin Hume, the evidence supervisor at the agency and Melody Shinner, the evidence custodian, were reprimanded by the department for their behavior. According to sheriff’s reports on Sunday, Sept. 2 a 23-foot bay boat containing six people left Port Charlotte and headed to the waters surrounding Gasparilla Island. At 9:52 p.m. two men who had been onboard the boat were reported missing. They were located Monday morning in waist-deep water at 12:36 a.m., approximately 1 1/2 miles north of Cape Haze Point.

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