Police blotter
The following accounts were taken from reports filed with the Columbia County Sheriff's Office.
Man reports beating
A Martinez man told police he was beaten up last week by a man who sold him bogus drugs.
Donald James Lakely, of the 300 block of Applecross Drive, reported to police that he paid an Evans man for drugs on June 27 and later realized the drugs were fake.
Lakely said he confronted the man to get his money back. Instead, he was beaten up, according to a Columbia County Sheriff's Office report.
In the report, deputies noted two cuts on Lakely's face, and he was taken to the Medical College of Georgia Hospital for treatment.
The other man told police Lakely refused to leave his home, and when he escorted him outside a fight started.
Commercial trash can burned
A Martinez man said that someone burned his trash can on June 30.
James Hugh Price, of the 200 block of Hillbrook Drive, told police that he went outside at 9 a.m. and found that someone had destroyed his 60-gallon garbage can, owned by Augusta Disposal, by catching it on fire, according to a Columbia County Sheriff's Office incident report.
When police arrived, the can was melted to the ground, the report stated.
Price had no suspects to offer, but said that Augusta Disposal would prosecute if someone was identified.
Man held for burglary
A Grovetown man was in jail Friday morning after he was identified as a man who entered a Martinez home and stole a watch while the owner was home.
David Robert Castello, of the 4000 block of Old Petersburg Road, told police June 30 that a man, later identified as Henry Renee Dean, 44, of the 300 block of Summerfield Place in Grovetown, approached him outside his home asking to do some yard work, but Castello said he already had it taken care of, according to a Columbia County Sheriff's Office incident report. Castello said Dean left in a white passenger car.
Castello said he went inside to get a drink and heard a noise upstairs. He heard a man's voice, and Dean walked down the stairs then left, the report stated.
When Castello did a check of the house, he said a $150 watch was missing.
Police pulled Dean over on Bobby Jones Expressway. Castello identified him as the man inside his home, the report stated. Dean was taken to the Columbia County Detention Center where was being held Friday morning on a $1,010 bond for burglary charges, according to jail records.
Woman foils theft
An Appling woman returned home from work June 30 to find two men in her yard whom she later found out had attempted to steal her neighbor's riding lawn mower.
Vicki Lynn Brantley, of the 3400 block of Ray Owens Road, told police that when she returned home at about 11:30 a.m., a white Jeep Cherokee with a white enclosed dual axle trailer was backed into her yard next to her shed, according to a Columbia County Sheriff's Office incident report.
She said she confronted the two men at the back of her house, and they said they thought the house belonged to the Overtons, the report stated. The two men left Brantleys' property.
After the two men left, Brantley realized her lawn mower had been moved across the yard, and that another riding mower belonging to her neighbor, Lawrence Craig Cain, had a damaged and removed ignition, the report stated.
A search of the area resulted in no suspects or evidence, but Brantley said she would prosecute if the men are identified.
Bike linked to robbery
A man on a bicycle may have been the one who broke into and robbed the Rack and Grill last Wednesday, witnesses reported to police.
Columbia County sheriff's Deputy Shawn Merzlak responded to the pool hall at 3481 Old Petersburg Road after the alarm sounded just after 3:30 a.m. on June 30, according to a Columbia County Sheriff's Office incident report.
Merzlak found the front glass door broken, two bar cash registers and several lottery ticket dispensers thrown to the floor and damaged and several packs of cigarettes on an open cooler, the report stated.
The owner, Ray Wren, said the burglar stole an undetermined amount of cash, several packs of cigarettes, beer and lottery tickets.
A sheriff's office investigator located a bicycle with a broken brick in the rack propped on the north side of the building. A cashier at the BP gas station across the street remembered seeing a man with strawberry blonde hair riding a similar bike with a brick in the rack at around 3:15 a.m., the report stated.
Despite an extensive search and the use of canine units, no suspects or evidence was located.