Police blotter

Robbery sentences

Steven Louis Barnes and Patricia Ann Rouse were sentenced Wednesday after they were convicted of several charges in a New Year's Day armed robbery of escort service clients.

Barnes and Rouse were convicted by a jury Nov. 13 of several charges including armed robbery, burglary, kidnapping and making terroristic threats after the two participated in a New Year's Day 2002 armed robbery of three clients of AA Angels Escort Service, which Barnes owned. He also was convicted of two counts of pandering.

Superior Court Judge Carl Brown sentenced Barnes to life for armed robbery plus 51 combined years on the remaining charges. Rouse, who remained in a vehicle outside during the robbery, was convicted on the basis of conspiracy to commit a crime by willingly participating. She was sentenced to a total of 25 years.

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Deadly burglary

Two Columbia County teens accused in the 2002 death of an Evans man pleaded guilty Wednesday to two of the five charges against them and were sentenced to 15 years each.

Marcus Torez McCord, 19, and Randy Allen Conrad II, 18, accepted negotiated agreements to plead guilty to kidnapping and burglary and to testify in any cases in Georgia and South Carolina relating to the Nov. 2002 slaying of Jack Murray, of Oakton Trail, Evans.

Superior Court Judge Bernard Mulherin sentenced both teens to 15 years in prison on each count, which will be served at the same time. The split sentence includes 10 years incarceration and five on probation. The agreement also includes resolving any charges facing them in South Carolina, including murder, said District Attorney Danny Craig.

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

False rape charge

Police dropped rape charges against a Lincolnton man Wednesday and arrested the alleged victim after authorities say she falsified information to the Columbia County Sheriff's Office.

After a two-day manhunt, police arrested Boyce Keith Tutt, 39, on Nov. 12 and charged him with kidnapping and rape after a CVS employee accused Tutt of attacking her while she was working at the store at 3527 Old Petersburg Road.

Angela Beach, 24, of the 2100 block of Boykin Road, Augusta, told police she was pulled into the men's restroom of the store and sexually assaulted.

During their investigation, authorities found that the sex act was consensual, not a rape, Columbia County sheriff's Capt. Steve Morris said.

Beach was arrested Wednesday and charged with filing a false report of a crime, obstruction of a police officer and four counts of making false statements. She was taken to the Columbia County Detention Center. Tutt was transferred to the Richmond County jail on a probation violation charge, Morris said.

Appling man run over

A reported tailgating led to an Appling man getting hit by a car.

Ronald Anthony Greene told police he was traveling west on Washington Road on Monday afternoon when a white Toyota Celica suddenly stopped in front of him. He swerved and missed the car, but Greene said the woman driving it began following him, according to a Columbia County Sheriff Office report.

Greene said he pulled into the driveway of his father's house on the 3100 block of Georgia Avenue, Appling, and the woman pulled up onto the lawn beside him, the report stated.

Greene called 911 and was telling a dispatcher the tag number of the Celica when the woman backed into him and knocked him down, according to the report.

She told him she would do it again before leaving, the report stated. She returned minutes later, told Greene her last name and to call police, spun her tires on the grass and left again, the report stated.

Burglar found

An Evans woman woke up to find a burglar in her home Tuesday.

Trilla Donovan Wheeler, of the 4700 block of Bass Drive, said she was asleep on her living room couch when she was awakened by a noise in her study. She said she then heard footsteps and saw a man walking across the living room toward her kitchen, according to a Columbia County Sheriff's Office report.

Wheeler told police that she said something to the man, who turned to look at her and then walked out the back door.

She also reported that the passenger doors to all four cars parked at her house were ajar, and two of the vehicle's glove boxes were open, the report stated.

Lakeside student beaten

A Lakeside High School student was beaten up at a Martinez convenience store Monday night.

Two 17-year-old Lakeside High students, stopped at the Circle K at 446 Old Evans Road at about 10:30 p.m. to get gas when two men in a Mitsubishi Eclipse pulled into the parking lot, according to a Columbia County Sheriff's Office report.

One teen told police that an argument with the men turned violent when one began hitting him, causing swelling around his right eye and severely lacerating his upper lip, the report stated.

Emergency medical workers treated the teen at the scene, but later he was taken to the hospital by his father, according to the report.