Police blotter

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

//

Stolen truck found

A truck belonging to an Appling man was found abandoned Monday, three hours after it was reported missing.

The man called police about 6 a.m., when he discovered his $30,000 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Z71 pickup missing from the driveway of his Oakwood Point Road home. The truck was stolen between 3 and 6 a.m.

The man's OnStar service located the pickup at 9 a.m. Police found the truck abandoned and out of gas on Bartram Trail Club Drive with the keys in the ignition. Nothing was damaged or missing, and it was returned to its owner.

An Evans woman who lives on Bartram Trail Club Drive called police Monday morning to report her Mitsubishi Montero had been stolen. She told police the theft occurred before 7:30 a.m. The sport utility vehicle had been parked in her driveway unlocked, with the keys inside.

Garage burglarized

A Grovetown man called police Tuesday to report someone had broken into his detached garage and stolen more than $2,300 in engine parts and an $1,800 television.

The man said that the theft occurred between 7:45 p.m. Monday and 7:50 a.m. Tuesday. Deputies confirmed a side door was forced open on the garage in a wooded area of his property on Sugar Creek Drive.

The man said a flat-screen television was missing, and someone had unbolted and stolen several parts from a V-8 engine, including a water pump, distributor, intake manifold, pulley set, chrome valve covers and a $1,700 two-speed transmission used for racing. The homeowner told deputies the engine parts belonged to a neighbor and a Harlem man.

Guns taken during Appling burglary

An Appling man called police after his teenage daughter came home Tuesday evening and nearly interrupted a burglary.

The man said his daughter pulled into the garage of the family's Appling Ridge Road home just after 8:30 p.m. and became suspicious when she noticed a door was damaged. The girl, who left to call her father, said a light in the computer room that was on when she pulled in was off when she left.

On the road, the girl met her father. He told her to wait while he checked out the home. No one was inside and the man called police.

Deputies found that someone had entered the home through a basement door.

A door from the basement into the home was locked, but the burglar broke the glass from its window to get inside.

The man told deputies more than $1,400 in guns, including rifles, shotguns and handguns, were missing, along with a $700 computer.

Mystery checks arrive via UPS

Police responded to a Martinez home Tuesday after its owners reported they'd received unsolicited checks in the mail.

A woman said three American Express checks were delivered to her home by UPS on Oct. 4. The checks were addressed to her husband and nothing accompanied the checks.

The package was mailed from a Santa Clara, Calif., address.