A woman reported to police Tuesday that an African Grey parrot she ordered from Africa never arrived.

The woman said she found the bird for sale on the Internet from a man in Africa. He said the parrot would cost $300. He asked that she wire $200 up front to pay for shipping. She complied.

Two days later she received another e-mail that said she needed to wire $280 to pay for insurance, and again she complied.

Then the man sent a message that he needed a copy of her driver’s license to get the bird through customs. She sent that.

Then she heard from a woman who said she had picked up the bird at customs and would meet her at a Denton location to hand it over. But first, she needed the victim to wire $300 for the price of the bird to the man in Africa.

The victim said she realized she was dealing with fraud and refused to send any more money. The woman threatened her, she said, and told her she’d better “watch her back.”

The victim is afraid because the suspects have her address from her driver’s license, according to the police report.

Other reports

1100 block of North Locust Street — Police responded about 10:15 p.m. Tues­day to a report that a witness was watching a man who was turning off breaker switches and appeared to be attempting to break into two businesses.

An officer spotted a man matching the description sneaking around behind the businesses. When the man saw the officer, he jumped over a fence and fled on foot. The officer followed and other officers re­sponded to help.

The officers caught the man several blocks away. He was carrying a flashlight and a screwdriver in his pockets, ac­cording to the report.

Officers found the breakers off at two businesses. One had a broken window and the second had pry marks on a back door. They arrested the man on charges of evading police and attempted burglary.

4300 block of East McKinney Street — Officers responding to a report of a disturbance about 9:20 p.m. Tuesday found a man and wo­man with torn clothing bleeding in a car.

The woman said she and her boyfriend were having an altercation and she told him to leave. He refused so she decided to go to her mother’s house. The woman called her mother’s boyfriend to come pick her up. They left the boyfriend upset and yelling.

They started toward her mother’s house and realized the boyfriend was following. He tried to run them off the road and tried to cause them to hit his car, according to the report.

Finally, the man and woman pulled into a driveway to avoid an accident. The suspect came over to the car and broke out the driver’s window. He struck the driver in the face and tried to drag him out of the car, according to the police report.

Then he went to the passenger side, broke out the window, struck his girlfriend and tried to drag her out of the car, according to the report.

The homeowner came out of the house and yelled that he had called the police. By the time officers arrived, the suspect had fled. They were not able to find him.

Roundup

From 7 a.m. Tuesday to 7 a.m. Wednesday:

• Denton police handled 261 calls for service and officer-initiated calls, including two forgeries, 12 thefts, three assaults, two reports of harassment, one deceased person, five cases of criminal mischief, four reports of credit card abuse, seven burglaries, two vehicle burglaries, one violation of a protective order, two cases of possession of drug paraphernalia, one report of graffiti, one fraud and one case of evading police.

• Denton County sheriff’s deputies handled 269 calls for service and officer-initiated calls for the agencies they serve. Forty people were booked into county jail.

Deputies took reports of one unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, three thefts, one runaway, two burglaries, two frauds and one vehicle burglary.

• Denton firefighters responded to four requests for public service, five traffic accidents, 16 medical calls, one oil spill and one Dumpster fire.

Aubrey firefighters responded to one traffic accident and one medical call.

Corinth firefighters responded to one accident, one grassfire, one structure fire, one smoke investigation and one medical call.

Pilot Point firefighters responded to one request to unlock a vehicle.

Ponder firefighters responded to one medical call.

Sanger firefighters responded to one medical call.

Argyle firefighters responded to one gas leak.

DONNA FIELDER can be reached at 940-566-6885. Her e-mail address is dfielder@dentonrc.com .

Denton County Crime Stoppers will pay a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest in these or other crimes. Callers will remain anonymous. Call 1-800-388-TIPS (8477). To receive crime alerts in your area, visit CrimeWeb.net.