Police blotter
Trial date set for Cleveland and Colohan
A Sept. 26 trial date has been set for a Columbia County substitute teacher accused of molesting girls at two elementary schools in May.
Bill Fray Cleveland, 67, of Augusta, will be tried on seven charges of child molestation. He pleaded not guilty at his Aug. 26 arraignment hearing.
The indictment accuses Cleveland, who was arrested Aug. 1, of inappropriately touching eight girls younger than 16 between May 3 and 17 while he worked as a substitute at Brookwood and Riverside elementary schools. He is accused of placing his hands on girls' hips and shoulders and rubbing his groin against the head of one girl, according to the indictment.
Cleveland was released from the Columbia County Detention Center on Aug. 4 after posting a $25,000 bond, according to jail records.
Also facing trial Sept. 26 is Paul Matthew Colohan III, 25, of Grovetown, who is accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in January. Colohan faces charges of rape, kidnapping, aggravated assault and possession of a knife during the commission of a crime, according to the indictment. Colohan is being held in the Columbia County Detention Center without bond.
The following accounts were taken from reports filed with the Columbia County Sheriff's Office:
Evans home burglary reported
An Evans house was ransacked Sept. 4 after someone broke into it through the kitchen window.
The woman told police someone entered her home between 2 and 8 p.m., ransacked the entire house and left through a back door, which she found unlocked when she returned home. Police found the window screen had been removed and the unlocked window open.
The woman said she is unsure whether anything was taken because all cabinet doors and drawers had been pulled open, clothing was thrown all over the house, and DVDs, CDs, papers, books and photos were thrown on the floor. The woman told police that it looked as though someone were searching for something but that she had no idea what it could have been.
Two arrested on criminal damage to property
A South Carolina man and a Georgia woman were in jail Thursday after being charged with throwing a chair off a motel balcony and being combative with police.
On Sept. 2, Columbia County authorities arrested Paul Edward Maddox, 42, of the 1700 block of Holley Ridge Road, Longs, S.C., and Shelby Jean Weatherford, 33, of the 6200 block of Cobbham Road in Appling. Police say the incident took place at the the Econo Lodge at 4090 Jimmie Dyess Parkway in Martinez.
A hotel employee told police that after throwing the chair, the suspects walked across the street to a gasoline station. Police found them intoxicated at the station. The employee said she wanted the couple to pay for the $85 chair and their hotel stay and then leave. Maddox and Weatherford were taken back to the hotel and became combative about the price of the chair.
They were arrested and taken to the Evans police substation, where they became violent and combative and complained of injuries not associated with the arrest. Emergency medical technicians were called to evaluate Weatherford, who complained of seizures and shook violently, hitting her head on the floor. Maddox said he had an abrasion on his arm from flailing his arms against the wall of the substation holding cell. EMTs cleaned and bandaged Maddox's arm and determined that Weatherford was faking the seizures, the sheriff's office report stated.
The suspects were taken to the Columbia County Detention Center; Maddox ripped a piece of baffling material from the back seat of the patrol car and damaged a window in the holding cell. The man and woman were charged with public drunkenness, disorderly conduct and criminal trespass. Maddox, held on a $6,750 bond, also faces a charge of interference with government property. Weatherford is being held on a $1,650 bond and a Columbia County probation violation, according to jail personnel.