Police blotter
Pupil threatens self
An Augusta Preparatory Day School pupil claiming to be the victim of death threats is now charged with committing the terroristic acts himself.
Police charged the 12-year-old boy Wednesday with 12 counts of making terroristic threats, one count of giving police a false statement, four counts of obstruction and one count of disrupting a lawful gathering. He was arrested and taken to the Regional Youth Detention Center, Columbia County sheriff's Capt. Steve Morris said.
Because of his age, police did not release the boy's name.
The boy originally told police that returned home from Augusta Prep on Feb. 3 and found a pocketknife and broken flashlight. Writing on the flashlight stated, "One day I will kill," and then listed the names of several classmates.
On Feb. 29, the boy's mother reported to authorities that she found an envelope and box cutter inside her garage. Writing on the envelope mentioned the family's name and read, "I kill everybody," according to a police report.
The juvenile is now accused of writing both threatening messages.
An expelled Augusta Prep pupil whom police originally considered a suspect has been cleared, Morris said.
The arrested boy admitted to forging the death threats to implicate another pupil, Augusta Prep Headmaster Jack Hall said.
Hall described the boy as an active athlete and said he once considered him "a terrific addition to the school."
The following accounts were taken from reports filed with the Columbia County Sheriff's Office.
Two auto thefts
After watching one vehicle be stolen, a Martinez automotive repair shop owner called police when he noticed a second vehicle missing.
Surinderjit Singh, owner of Columbia County Automotive Center at 4014 Washington Road, said he observed a white wrecker tow a 1997 Chevrolet truck belonging to Gary Harold Garland of Wadley, Ga., on March 3 or 4, according to a police report.
Singh told officers he became concerned when he discovered that a second vehicle - a 1978 Chevy van belonging to Michael Douglas Pirtle of Martinez - had been stolen between March 5 and 8.
The owner contacted both men to see if they had allowed their vehicles to be removed, but both said they had not.
The truck and van were listed as stolen in the sheriff's office computer. Also reported stolen were two Chevy engines that were resting in the bed of Garland's truck.
Threatening note
A Martinez woman reported to police that she has received multiple threats.
On Monday, Shannon Leanne Strickland, of the 500 block of Fairfield Way, told authorities she found a note stuck to her door that read, "You don't scare me," a police report stated.
Strickland previously reported receiving a threatening note the day before.
She told authorities that she thinks the notes are in retaliation for a Department of Family and Children Services investigation she started. The report gave no other details.