Police blotter

The following accounts were taken from reports filed with the Columbia County Sheriff's Office.

Improper charges

The owner of a local car-parts store recently discovered someone had been purchasing parts with the store's charge account.

Richard Wade Hershberger, owner of Midas Mufflers, closed his store and went on vacation during Masters Week. When he returned, Hershberger received a phone call from Advanced Auto Parts at 4018 Washington Road, Martinez, where he learned someone identifying himself as Jason Reese, a former employee, had made five purchases totaling $758.57 during Masters and charged it to the store's charge account, according to a Columbia County Sheriff's Office incident report.

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Lazaro Hernendez-Castro, the Advance Auto Parts manager, told Hershberger that the man entered the store wearing a Midas uniform claiming to be the general manager needing to order parts, the report stated.

Deputies spoke to Reese, who stated he made the transactions, but planned to pay off the bill before month's end, the report stated. Reese also told deputies he had not worked for Midas since December.

Results of the investigation were presented to Magistrate Judge Jack Farmer, who issued five warrants for Reese's arrest. Reese was arrested and taken to the Columbia County Detention Center, where he was charged with five counts of misdemeanor theft by deception, according to a detention center officer. Reese paid his $5,250 bond and was released.

Dogs killed

Two Columbia County residents recently reported the suspicious deaths of their pets.

Cynthia Gay Ansley, 46, of the 4900 block of Wrightsboro Road, Grovetown, left two adult mixed-breed dogs and four puppies at the home she was moving out of at the 7200 block of Bill Dorn Road, Thomson, according to a Columbia County Sheriff's Office incident report.

During her move, someone replaced the dogs' drinking water with anti-freeze, killing all six dogs, the report stated.

James A. Rolle Jr., 43, of the 4500 block of Colonial Road, Martinez, said someone killed his dog with a crossbow, the report stated. Rolle stated the dog was in the back yard inside a chain-link fence.

Rude awakening

An Evans woman recently woke to find a startled daughter and missing money from her home.

Suzanne Foliche Lamb, of the 500 block of Commons Drive, Evans, told deputies that someone entered her home and removed $60 from her purse, which was in the kitchen, the Columbia County Sheriff's Office incident report stated.

Lamb told deputies the intruder fled when her 15-year-old daughter woke up after midnight with the man in her bedroom, the report stated. Lamb has no idea who he was.

Rash of car break-ins

Employees of Quebecor World recently found that locking car doors was not enough to protect their vehicles.

Four vehicles belonging to employees were broken into on the same day resulting in more than $2,000 in stolen stereo equipment and damages, according to a Columbia County Sheriff's Office incident report.

Quebecor security guard Phillip Kirby Rogers, 47, saw a black male sitting in a Kia Sephia car belonging to Juan Carlos Villegas and noticed a window was broken, the report stated. Rogers told deputies the man then exited the vehicle, got into a black Honda and left.

Quebecor is at 4301 Evans-to-Locks Road in Evans.

Fire report

Martinez Fire Department activity report for April 13-19: structure fire, one; controlled burn, one; natural gas leak, one; fire alarms, three; medical calls, 27; rescue calls, four; investigations, four; public service, four; other, two.