Police blotter

The following accounts were taken from reports from the Columbia County Sheriff's Office. Additional reports are available at www.columbiacountyso.org:

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Executive reports forged wire transfer

The chief executive officer of a Grovetown business told police Tuesday that someone tried to transfer more than $23,000 from the business's account using his forged signature.

The CEO of Palmetto Industries, 6001 Horizon West Parkway, said that on Monday he discovered that a fax had been sent to JP Morgan Chase Bank. The fax was a request for an international wire transfer of $23,129.81 from the Palmetto Industries account to Alfa-Bank in Moscow.

Clerk says thief looked familiar

The cashier of a Martinez Citgo convenience store told police Wednesday that a woman she has suspected in previous shoplifting incidents stole cigars from the counter.

The cashier of the store, 440 S. Belair Road, said that between 9 and 9:15 p.m. the shopper entered into the store and asked for a phone card. When the cashier had her back turned to retrieve the card, the woman said she did not want the card.

The cashier said she looked at the security camera and confirmed that the woman took flavored cigars from the counter and put them into the waistband of her pants.

Man's information used in phone calls

A Grovetown man called police Tuesday after discovering someone had used his personal information to charge phone calls.

The 44-year-old said that on Monday he received a bill in the mail from qtbill.com stating he owed $105 for five phone calls billed to a phone number that didn't belong to him. The bill contained his date of birth, Social Security number and ZIP code.

He tried calling the three numbers that appeared on the bill and looked them up using an online directory. One came back to an Evans address, one in Leesburg, Fla., and one unlisted.

Police contacted the owner of the Evans address, who said it was not his phone number and that no one by the name listed in the directory lived there.

Man caught stealing county water, again

A Martinez man was caught Tuesday using a stolen water meter to get free water from Columbia County.

A water utility employee called police about 7:30 a.m. and said the resident in the 4300 block of Columbia Road in Martinez was using the stolen meter from noon April 11 through Tuesday morning to receive water after he had been disconnected by the water department.

Several previous reports have been filed against the resident for theft of utilities.