Police blotter

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

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Warrant issued on shoplifting charge

Police are looking for an Evans man who asked a Wal-Mart employee about shoplifting before he tried to steal from the store.

A warrant has been issued for Kenneth Allen Ringgold, 24, of the 4700 block of Walnut Hill Drive. As of Friday, Ringgold had not been arrested.

The assistant manager of the Wal-Mart at 4471 Washington Road in Evans told police that at about 2:40 p.m. Monday, Ringgold tried to leave the grocery entrance of the store with a DVD/VHS recorder, a home cinema system and a hard drive/DVD recorder, without paying for the items. The manager said that when he asked the customer for his receipt, Ringgold ran out of the store toward Country Place subdivision.

A store employee who attended middle school with the suspect told police that Ringgold had asked him how hard it was to shoplift from the store.

The employee said when Ringgold asked him to distract the greeter, the employee said he couldn't discuss it and walked off.

Man reports son's scooter vandalized

A Grovetown man called police Tuesday after his son's scooter was vandalized at a neighborhood park.

The man said his son had been playing at the park in Magnolia subdivision at about 6 p.m. Monday. The boy rode his $30 chrome scooter to the park and walked home, forgetting to take the scooter.

The child told his father that when he returned to the park with friends at about 6 p.m. Tuesday, he found his scooter spray-painted orange.

The man said he called police after his son came home with the damaged scooter.

Machine damaged near Evans store

Police responded to the parking lot of Academy Sports on Tuesday after a construction company employee reported that a construction machine had been vandalized.

An employee of Earth Structures Inc. said that between 1 p.m. July 26 and 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, someone dumped rocks and dirt into the diesel tank of the large machine as it was parked in the rear lot of Academy Sports, 4210 Washington Road.

All of the machine's fuses and motor fluid caps had been removed and broken on the ground.

Shoplifter sought at Martinez store

Police are looking for a woman who stole cold medicine from a Martinez convenience store Monday.

A clerk at the Circle K at 4473 Columbia Road told police that just before 1:30 p.m. the woman stole three six-packs of cold medicine. The clerk said the woman is a regular to the store and often purchases the medicine.

When the clerk used the woman's credit card, she was told the transaction was denied. The shopper took the medication and walked out.

An investigation revealed that the address the woman provided when she purchased the medicine does not exist.

The clerk told police the store will prosecute the woman unless she returns to the store and pays for the medicine.

Air conditioning units stolen

Police responded to an Evans house under construction Tuesday after a construction superintendent said two air conditioning units had been stolen.

The superintendent for Bill Beazley Homes Inc. told police that between 4 p.m. Monday and 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, someone stole a 4-ton and a 2-ton air conditioning unit from outside a house at 424 Weyanoke Drive.

The units had been installed outside the house, but the supply lines to the units were cut. The superintendent said a large truck would have been needed to remove the units from the property.