Police blotter

Drug arrest

Following a tip, officers with the Grovetown Department of Public Safety set up a surveillance operation on the afternoon of Aug. 29 that resulted in the arrest of a Grovetown man for drug charges.

Investigator Mark Albright was told by an unnamed source that a drug buy was going to take place between 5:30 and 6 p.m. in the parking lot of the IGA Food Store in Grovetown. Authorities say they also were told that Douglas Toney, 30, would be a passenger in a black Ford Tempo with rear-end damage, and that he would be making the sale, according to a police incident report.

Albright wrote in the report that the drug buy proceeded as he was informed, except that there were children in the car with Toney. He wrote that officers approached the car and because children were present asked Toney to step out of the Tempo.

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Albright said Toney was clutching a blue wash rag in his left hand. When he asked to see it, Albright found that the rag was wrapped around two plastic bags containing marijuana.

Toney was arrested and charged with felony possession of marijuana.

Shouting match

A shouting incident and a threat brought out Columbia County deputies to the Circle K convenience store at 3934 Washington Road in Martinez early Thursday morning.

Kelly Lynn O'Mary, a Circle K sales clerk, said a Hephzibah man cursed at him and threatened to "beat him down," because O'Mary wouldn't sell him beer, according to a police report. Fearing for his safety, O'Mary called the police.

The suspect told officers that he cursed at O'Mary because the male clerk made a sexual advance toward him but that he never threatened him with physical violence, the report stated.

Violent kick

An argument ended with a kick at a Martinez carpet store Tuesday.

Phillip Gregory Jones of Augusta told police he was arguing with a contractor about some missing tools at the Sherwin-Williams warehouse at 472 Flowing Wells Road, according to a police incident report.

Jones said he apologized to the contractor and started to walk away when a man not identified in the report approached him and kicked him in the leg. After being kicked, Jones said he fell to the concrete floor and hit his head on a piece of plywood.

The kicker left the scene before deputies arrived.

Jones complained of soreness, but a deputy noted in the report that he did not see any visible signs of injury.

Identity theft

An Evans man tried to get new cell phone service only to be told he already had a contract for cellular service and owed the company money.

Surinder Singh Chahal of Evans told officers that he tried to get cell phone service through NCS Wireless on Monday afternoon and was told he already had service with them and that his account was in collections, according to a police incident report.

Chahal told police he found out someone had used his Social Security number to get cellular service. He said he didn't know who it was, but paperwork provided by the cellular provider showed a New York address.

After saying a similar incident happened to him last year with AT&T, deputies told Chahal to report the case to the Social Security office.

House break-in

A Martinez man had to wait out three men trying to break into his house before he could call police early one morning last week.

At about 4:30 a.m. Monday, William Montgomery Graham of the 4100 block of Old Petersburg Road, said he was sleeping when a noise at the front door of his apartment woke him up, according to a police report. He got up and saw that the door was open. As he approached the door there were three men outside, two of whom he knew. One man was holding a gun, according to the report.

Graham told police that he pushed the door closed and secured it. He said he tried to use the phone to call for help, but the line was dead. He waited 20 minutes and then went outside to check the phone line, which had been cut. He also noticed that two screens covering his windows had been cut, the report stated.

After splicing the phone wires together, Graham called the sheriff's office.

Road rage

An Augusta woman got cut off in traffic, and then another driver spat in her face.

Debra Lynn Newton told police that she was driving north on Bobby Jones Expressway in Martinez on Aug. 30 at about noon when a camper cut her off in traffic, according to a Columbia County sheriff's incident report.

Newton said she hit the brakes and barely avoided hitting the camper.

After stopping, Newton said the driver of the camper, a man got out and approached her GMC Sonoma pickup looking very angry, the report stated. While sitting in her truck, she said the man accused her of driving too close. When she accused him of cutting her off, she said the man spit in her face. Newton told the man she was calling the police. He got back in his camper and fled, according to the report.

Fire report

Martinez Fire Department Activity Report for the week of Aug. 23-30:

Structure fires, four; vehicle fires, three; controlled burns, two; fire alarms, sixteen; natural gas leak, one; medical calls, 33; rescue calls, nine; investigations, four; public service, three; and other, one.