Police blotter

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

Burglary string

The homes and cars of three residents in a Martinez apartment complex were broken into or damaged last week.

Megan Kathleen Davis, 31, found an 8-inch gash in the convertible top of her 2001 Chrysler Sebring early Friday morning parked at Shenandoah Ridge Apartments, according to a Columbia County Sheriff's Office incident report. Repairing the gash will cost $1,500.

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Items belonging to John James Loflin, 21, were found in the woods behind his building, according to the incident report. Two neighbors told deputies they saw two men carrying items from the building to the woods early Friday morning. Deputies discovered many sets of footprints leading from the woods to the building, the report stated.

Tiwana Monique Watson, 27, shares an apartment with Edward Lee Hawthorne III, 30. She told deputies that someone had broken into her apartment and stole a handgun, a laptop computer, a television and DVD/VCR combination unit, the incident report stated. Investigators concluded the burglar got into the apartment by prying open a back window, which was shattered.

The bedroom was rummaged through, where the gun and an unidentified amount of jewelry was taken before the burglar moved to the living room, where the electronics were taken, the report stated.

Flim-flam

Someone pulled the same scam on two different cashiers at the two Columbia County Wal-Mart stores in the same day.

A man approached a cash register worked by cashier Tiffiney Cha'Nell Duncan, 19, of Grovetown, about 4:40 p.m. Friday, a Columbia County Sheriff's Office incident report stated. The man, who purchased a flashlight at the Wal-Mart at 4472 Washington Road, Evans, asked to exchange $400 in small bills for larger ones to use as a gift in a greeting card he already had in his hand.

Duncan agreed and counted out $400. When she counted his money, it was only $398. The man asked her to hold the card while he retrieved the extra $2 from his wife, who was still in the store, the report stated. When the man did not return, Duncan opened the card to find folded up paper towels.

Possibly the same man, described in the earlier incident as in his mid-40s to late 50s, gray hair, ran the same scam on Deidre Rochelle Attin, 25, of Augusta, at the Wal-Mart store at 260 Bobby Jones Expressway only three hours later. The cashier told deputies a man approached her register to purchase a magazine and made wedding conversation, referring to the greeting card with signatures he already had, the report stated.

The man executed the same scam as reported in the first Wal-Mart.

In each incident, the man left the store with $398 in cash.

Tires taken

Two local businesses discovered the front tires from the work trucks missing.

Glen Alan Bailey, 45, of Martinez, told deputies he found the front tires and rims missing off a 1996 Nissan pick-up truck owned by his business, Bailey's Custom Glass. He said that the truck was parked in the business's lot at 3816 Commercial Blvd., Evans, on Thursday evening.

The service manager of Southeastern System Technologies, 3819 Oak Drive, Martinez, made the same discovery when he arrived at work Friday morning. The front tires and rims were missing from a company 1996 Nissan pick-up, the report stated. The front end was set on cinder blocks. Two more blocks were found near the back tires, both the rear tires were untouched.

Neither vehicle had been entered, but investigators did discover two partial prints off the front quarter panel of Southeastern Tech's truck.

Burglar caught

An Appling woman discovered a man breaking into her home early Thursday.

Kimberly Duke Newman, 30, was awakened by her dogs barking inside about 4 a.m Thursday, a Columbia County Sheriff's Office incident report stated. She got out of bed and locked herself in the bathroom, where she saw a large arm coming through the window. She yelled and called 911.

Deputies cleared the area and discovered a large shoe print on the heat pump, the base of a telephone outside the bathroom window on the ground and the window pushed in, the report stated.

Newman told deputies that two yard blowers were missing from her driveway.

Fire report

Martinez Fire Department Activity Report for the week of Aug. 10-16: structure fire, one; auxiliary structure fire, one; vehicle fires, two; woods fire, one; controlled burns, two; fire alarms, seven; medical calls, 30; rescue calls, seven; investigations, nine; public service, one; other, two.