Police blotter

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

Chairs damaged

Vandals damaged three plastic chairs at a local high school Sunday.

Mike Bergeron of Evans told police that he was at Lakeside High School's running track when he heard sounds of something being broken at the tennis courts, according to a Columbia County Sheriff's Office report.

//

Bergeron told police that when he went to investigate, two juveniles were damaging three plastic bench-type chairs on the courts before they left in an unknown direction, the report stated.

A search did not turn up the suspects.

Attempted break-in

A Martinez man heard noises outside his home that turned out to be would-be burglars trying to get into a storage room.

Eric Deltoro, of the 200 block of Valdes Drive, Martinez, was watching television just before 1:30 a.m. Sunday when he heard a loud noise from his carport, according to a Columbia County Sheriff's Office report.

Deltoro turned on the carport light and found that a storage room door had been pried open, the report stated. Police found pry marks around the door's handle, and Deltoro said a swing that normally sits in front of the door had been moved. The report stated that nothing was stolen.

Stolen rims

A Grovetown man woke up Saturday morning to find nearly $2,000 in spinner rims had been stolen from his truck.

Michael Steven Cardenaz, of the 4700 block of Orchard Hill Road, Grovetown, discovered four spinning Diablo rims were taken from his 1999 Ford F-150 truck during the night as the truck sat in his driveway, according to a Columbia County Sheriff's Office report.

Thieves also took three of the five lug nuts on each wheel, the report stated. Cardenaz told police the spinners could be used only on 22-inch wheels.

Computer thefts

Two Columbia County residents reported their computers stolen or tampered with over the weekend.

Danny Wayne Haywood Jr. of Grovetown returned from vacation and discovered someone had entered his home and used his computer, according to a Columbia County Sheriff's Office report. Haywood did not see anything missing, but said that his computer was turned on and someone had downloaded programs onto it, the report stated.

There were no signs of forced entry, and the rear door of the residence was unlocked.

Joseph Keith Craft of Martinez was not as lucky. He placed his computer components on a shelf in the front bedroom of his home because he was having the carpets professionally cleaned, according to a Columbia County Sheriff's report. Craft left the back door unlocked for the carpet cleaners, he told police.

When Craft went to retrieve the monitor, printer, tower and digital modem worth nearly $2,000, they were gone, the report stated.

Sheriff's deputy Keith Warner contacted a Comcast representative, who said Craft's computer was in use but was unable to perform a trace to locate the address, the report stated. A fingerprint card was collected and turned in as evidence.

DVD shoplifters

The manager of a local Wal-Mart store chased a shoplifter into the parking lot after retrieving merchandise from two of his friends.

Michael Belton Corey, the assistant manager of the Wal-Mart store at 260 Bobby Jones Expressway, Martinez, approached and asked a man to give back the merchandise he was hiding in his clothing just before 9 a.m. Friday, according to a Columbia County Sheriff's Office report. The man began pulling DVDs from his pants and placing them on the floor.

Another man went into the men's department and did the same, the report stated.

A third shoplifter tried to sneak behind Corey and out the door, according to the report. Corey chased him into the parking lot, where DVDs dropped from his pants as he ran, the report stated.

As Corey stopped to pick up the DVDs, the three left the property in an unknown direction. The store security video was taken into evidence.

Fire report

Martinez Fire Department activity report for the week of Oct. 19-25:

Structure fires, two; auxiliary structure fire, one; grass fire, one; woods fire, one; vehicle fires, two; controlled burn, one; fire alarms, twelve; medical calls, 29; rescue calls, nine; investigations, three; public service, one; public safety assistance, one; and other, two.