Police Blotter

Dozens of cats seized from Appling home

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Columbia County Animal Care and Control officers removed 42 cats and kittens from an Appling home Wednesday.

Linda Fulmer, the manager of the department, said the animals were seized at about 2 p.m. from a double-wide mobile home owned by Nan King in the 2300 block of County Camp Road in Appling. The home was missing an exterior wall and county officials said it contained mold and mildew.

A woman reported the situation after visiting the home to pick up a kitten listed in a classified ad. Fulmer said traps have been set to capture about 20 more cats that ran from the home and were hiding in the woods. The felines are being held in quarantine and evaluated. Sick animals will be euthanized, she said.

King will be cited on a county ordinance violation for animal neglect, with the number of charges based on the number of animals involved, Fulmer said. By Friday, a total of 64 cats had been recovered.

Richard Harmon, the county's Building and Commercial Services Department director, said he plans to get an order for King and the two other occupants to leave the home, which he said is unhealthy, unsanitary and dilapidated.

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

Three arrested in theft of motorcycle

Three Augusta men were arrested Monday morning and charged with stealing a motorcycle after a deputy responded to a call for assistance with a disabled vehicle.

Phillip Edward Frank, 24, of the 2500 block of Milledgeville Road; Darren White, 18, of the 1100 block of 10th Avenue; and Darrion Antwonn Williams, 17, of the 2100 block of Stevens Road, were charged with one count each of theft by taking and were taken to the Columbia County Detention Center.

Frank and White were being held for other authorities at the jail Wednesday, and Williams was released late Monday on a $2,600 bond, according to jail records.

A deputy who had responded to Columbia Road at Wesley Drive questioned the three men about a red motorcycle lying in the bed of the truck they were riding in.

The men told the deputy that the disabled Dodge Ram pickup was not theirs and that they did not know who the motorcycle belonged to or how it got in the truck.

At the same time, just before 6 a.m., a Martinez man reported a red Honda XR100R motorcycle stolen from his home.

Deputies called the Martinez man to the scene, and he identified the motorcycle as his and produced a bill of sale with the bike's vehicle identification number.

Man is accused of attacking manager

Deputies arrested a Wrens man late Monday who was accused of hitting an Evans restaurant manager after the manager asked him to leave.

Jerry Jackson Lee, III, 22, of the 100 block of Quaker Road, was charged with simple battery and released Tuesday from the Columbia County Detention Center on a $1,100 bond, according to jail records.

Witnesses told deputies they complained to a manager of The Pizza Joint on Washington Road that Lee was causing a disturbance.

The manager approached Lee after seeing a broken glass and blood at Lee's seat and asked him to leave.

Witnesses told deputies that Lee grabbed the 22-year-old manager by the shirt, pushed him against a rail and punched him in the face.

Deputies later arrested Lee while he was walking along Washington Road. Lee, also listed in records as having a Martinez address, was treated by paramedics for an injury to his hand and was taken to the county jail.

Woman, 49, finds burglar in home

A Martinez woman told deputies Tuesday that a burglar knocked her to the floor of her home after she discovered him inside her residence.

The 49-year-old woman said she was at home alone in her home in the 100 block of Shawns Way when she discovered that a white man wearing a black trench coat and hat had entered through an unlocked rear door.

The man charged the woman, pushing her to the floor, and fled through the same door.

When the woman went to a neighbor's home to call police, she told deputies she saw the man get into a dark dual-axle pickup driven by someone else.

The woman also told deputies a similar incident with the same intruder had occurred two weeks earlier. An incident report did not say whether anyone was caught.