Police Blotter

Injured dog is found swimming in lake

//

Columbia County Animal Care and Control officials were looking Monday for the owners of a Labrador retriever mix that was found injured and swimming in Thurmond Lake on Saturday afternoon.

Linda Fulmer, the director of Columbia County Animal Care and Control, said boaters found the female dog about 500 yards from shore at the Winfield Campground late Saturday afternoon. Animal control officers took the dog, which appeared to have been hit by a boat propeller across her back, to an emergency hospital, where she received stitches, Fulmer said.

The dog is recovering at the Animal Care and Control facility on Columbia Road, Fulmer said. The dog has a good disposition and has gray hair around her muzzle, indicating she is not a puppy.

Fulmer said she expects the dog to make a full recovery and that if her owners are not found she will be placed for adoption at the facility.

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

Teen is charged with making false statement

A Grovetown teen was arrested July 5 after he accused the sheriff's office of arresting him on a previous offense, only to "unarrest'' him later.

Johnathon Wayne Shipman, 17, of Wilkins Road, was charged with felony making false statements and writings. He was released from the Columbia County Detention Center later that day after posting a $2,600 bond, according to jail personnel.

Sheriff's Lt. Andrew Shedd was contacted at about 1 p.m. by Shipman's mother, who was asking why her son was arrested and then "unarrested." Shedd spoke by phone to Shipman, who said that at about 7 a.m. he was walking into the Wal-Mart in Evans when a female sheriff's deputy approached and arrested him for indecent exposure. Shipman told Shedd he was taken to the detention center, where he was never fingerprinted or photographed. Shipman said he made two telephone calls from the jail - to his mother's home and to his mother's cell phone - but he was unable to contact her.

Shipman told Shedd the female deputy then said she was off duty and could not do anything, so she took him back to Wal-Mart and released him.

No record of transporting anyone from Wal-Mart to the detention center was listed in dispatch records. Jail personnel also said Shipman was never in the facility, and phone records show no outgoing calls to either of Shipman's mother's phone numbers. Three Wal-Mart employees said they never saw a female deputy making an arrest at about 7 a.m.

Shipman was later asked to write another statement, in which he admitted to making up the story to avoid getting in trouble with his mother.

Woman says her car was stolen, crashed, returned

An Appling woman told police Sunday that someone returned her car after stealing and damaging it Sunday morning.

The 26-year-old told police she had been listening to the stereo in her 2001 Ford Taurus just after midnight Saturday with the windows down and the key in the ignition. She said she went inside to answer the telephone.

She returned to a window a short time later and saw her car damaged in her driveway.

She said she never knew the car was missing. She said someone took it, damaged it and returned it. Responding deputies noted extensive damage to the front of the car.

Martinez-Columbia Fire and Rescue Activity Report for the week of July 2-8:

Structure fires, seven; woods fires, four; grass fires, five; vehicle fire, one; unauthorized burns, four; fire alarms, eight; medical calls, 15; rescue calls, 12; investigations, two; public service, one; public safety assistance, one; and other, one.