Police blotter

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

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Augusta man arrested over use of TV sales receipt

An Augusta man was arrested Monday after he tried to use a sales receipt fraudulently, police said.

Keith Deon Freeman, 20, of the 1300 block of R.A. Dent Boulevard, faces a charge of fraudulent sales receipts and was being held Wednesday in the Columbia County Detention Center on $5,100 bond.

Deputies said Freeman entered the Wal-Mart on Bobby Jones Expressway with a 32-inch high-definition television set and a receipt for a 32-inch high-definition television and asked for an exchange. A clerk at the store told deputies she discovered that the television's bar code was covered by another barcode to a more expensive television.

The clerk told deputies that an inventory of the store determined that the more expensive item was still in the store. Two deputies who were in the store for an unrelated matter arrested Freeman.

False report leads to man's questioning about crimes

An Augusta man initially thought to be a suspect in a series of robberies turned out to be the victim of a false report, authorities say.

At about 8:30 p.m. Monday, deputies responded to a call from a witness who said a man who had tattoos on his chest and was wearing a red bandana and driving a black BMW had robbed the Circle K convenience store at 3932 Washington Road in Martinez.

Clerks said the store had not been robbed, and while deputies checked other area stores, dispatchers received another complaint about the same man robbing women in the parking lot of Wal-Mart on Bobby Jones Expressway.

Deputies saw a black BMW, pulled it over and placed the 19-year-old driver into custody. Deputies soon realized there were no robbery victims at Wal-Mart and suspected a false report.

The suspect told deputies a man who was using a pay phone at the Circle K minutes earlier had asked for a ride to Wal-Mart. While at the store, the man asked to use the driver's cell phone and later tried to run away with the phone.

The driver said he confronted the man and struck him in the neck with his fist, after which the man threw the cell phone and ran. The thief was described as black, 6-foot-1 and 150 pounds. No arrests had been filed as of Friday.

Caller cons Martinez pair out of $18,000 in 'lottery'

A Martinez woman told deputies Monday that someone conned her out of thousands of dollars after telling her by phone that her husband had won money in a foreign lottery.

The 68-year-old woman from the 300 block of Miramar Drive said a man claiming to represent a Canadian lottery called between Sept. 19 and Sept. 21 to tell her husband he had won $250,000. The caller told the woman to wire money to cover fees and taxes associated with the lottery.

She wired nearly $18,000, and her husband has not received his prize.

Man says driver follows him, threatens his life - twice

An Augusta man told deputies Monday night that a man threatened him and followed him in a car for nearly half an hour after leaving an Evans shopping center.

The 19-year-old said the stranger, driving a sedan painted with only silver primer and missing its hood, pulled up beside him at the intersection of Washington and Owens roads and threatened to kill him.

The assailant then followed him for 20 minutes before threatening him again at another Washington Road intersection.

No description of the other driver was given.