Police blotter

Boy, 11, who disappeared is discovered uninjured

//

An 11-year-old Appling boy missing since Tuesday morning was found uninjured Wednesday.

Kyle Morris, a North Columbia Elementary School fifth-grader, was found walking beside a road in Appling about 2 p.m. Wednesday, said Columbia County sheriff's Capt. Steve Morris.

The boy was reported missing Tuesday when he did not arrive at school.

The fire department was called to the boy's grandmother's house near his Shucraft Road home about 10 a.m. Wednesday, where they found Kyle's backpack and evidence suggesting he had spent the night there, Morris said. His grandmother called the fire department after smelling smoke.

Police said Kyle had plugged in a lamp that caught fire and had tried to put the fire out with a fire extinguisher.

An employee of Columbia Probate Court said a therapist who has been working with Kyle saw him walking along an Appling road, picked him up and took him to the Probate office. Kyle has a history of running away, Morris said.

Evans couple is arrested on marijuana charges

An Evans couple was arrested on felony charges of manufacturing marijuana Tuesday after police found marijuana plants growing inside their home, according to authorities.

Louis William Tremper and Debra Cason Tremper, both 54, of Evanston Drive, were also charged with misdemeanor marijuana possession, police say. Mrs. Tremper was released from the Columbia County Detention Center Wednesday on $26,200 bond, and Mr. Tremper was released Thursday on $26,200 bond, according to a jail official.

Deputies searched their house at 9 p.m. Tuesday and found four marijuana plants in a container inside the residence, sheriff's Capt. Steve Morris said. They also found less than 1 ounce of the processed form of the drug, resulting in the possession charges, Morris said.

Lincolnton man denies guilt in 1992 homicide

A Lincolnton man arrested in a 15-year-old murder case pleaded not guilty Wednesday in Columbia County.

Douglas Wayne Toney, 34, is charged with murder, malice murder and possession of a weapon during the commission of a crime in the death of Faxton Lamar Powell Jr., 29, who was found shot near Pumpkin Center on Sept. 27, 1992.

Toney was arrested July 24 in Lincoln County. He is being held in the Columbia County Detention Center without bond. No trial date has been set.

Owner of tax service is arrested after eviction

An owner of a Martinez tax service that was evicted from its offices last week was arrested Wednesday on a deposit account fraud charge, police say.

Chad Addison Barrs, 28, of Long Creek Falls Way in Grovetown, was released from the Columbia County Detention Center Thursday on a $1,600 property bond, sheriff's Capt. Steve Morris said.

Barrs co-owns the Liberty Tax Service franchise, which was evicted Aug. 24 from its offices at 3802 Washington Road for failing to pay rent, according to court documents.

On Monday, Sandra Maio, a landlord of the business, filed a police report alleging Barrs wrote a bad check for rent June 23. When Maio deposited the $800 check, it was returned for insufficient funds, Morris said.

Maio said Barrs failed to respond to repeated attempts for a remedy.

Barrs denies any wrongdoing.

When Columbia County marshals evicted of the business Aug. 24, they found several boxes of documents and computer towers containing the tax records for hundreds of residents from Columbia and Richmond counties.

Marshals have stored the records in the Justice Center in Evans.