Police blotter

Suspicious man returns to Grovetown home

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Police were searching Monday for a group they believe is trying to scam seniors in Columbia County.

Police believe the group targeted a Grovetown man, who called police a second time Saturday after a suspicious man he reported to police Friday returned, Columbia County sheriff's Capt. Steve Morris said. The 80-year-old said the younger man was one of two men who came to his home and tried to lure him to the rear of the Wrightsboro Road property, according to a sheriff's office incident report. The man said instead of going to the back, he went to the driveway, where a light-gray truck the pair had arrived in was parked.

The resident said he wrote the truck tag number in a small notebook. When the younger man asked what he was doing, the man said he had called police the day before and was told the pair was attempting to scam him. The resident said the younger man snatched his notebook, yelled for his partner to get into the truck and quickly left. The tag number came back registered to a Trenton, S.C., man.

Morris said they have a suspect and plan to show a photo line-up to the man soon.

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

Martinez jewelry store robbed at gunpoint

Police are looking for two men whom they say robbed Martinez Gold and Fine Jewelry at gunpoint Saturday afternoon.

The owner of the jewelry store at 3801-D Washington Road told police that two men entered the store at about 1:45 p.m. as he stood in front of the open safe. When he turned to greet the two men, one pointed a silver revolver at him and demanded he lie on the ground.

The men stole jewelry from three display cases and the safe and took an unknown amount of cash from the register.

The Jeep, which was reported stolen from Richmond County, was discovered a short time later behind the Wachovia Bank at 3726 Washington Road with the engine running.

The store owner described the robber with the revolver as a black man, 6 feet tall, between 250 and 275 pounds, wearing a white shirt, blue jeans, brown gloves and a black scarf around his face.

Martinez man reports stolen gas

A Martinez man called police last week after he saw someone steal a gas can from his home.

The man said that on Oct. 24, he saw a man carry a gas can from his open attached garage and leave in a white Ford Mustang.

Church garden is vandalized

Police responded to Marvin United Methodist Church Friday afternoon, when someone reported vandalism to the church's prayer garden.

A Martinez woman told police that between 9 p.m. Thursday and 1 p.m. Friday, someone caused $200 damage to the garden at the church at 4400 Wheeler Road. The woman said a cement post was pulled up, plants were destroyed and pumpkins were smashed in the garden, which is in a small patch of woods in the north side of the property.

Martinez-Columbia Fire Rescue Activity Report for the week of Oct. 21-27:

Structure fires, two; vehicle fire, one; controlled/unauthorized burns, three; activated fire alarms, nine; gas line rupture, one; electrical incident, one; medical incidents, 21; vehicle accidents, nine; investigate various incidents, five; and assist citizens, six.