Police blotter
Harlem man arrested after hunt
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A Harlem man was arrested Friday after running from Columbia County and Harlem authorities.
Police say James Lamar Coe, 28, of the 800 block of County Line Road in Harlem, ran when police attempted to pull over his vehicle just after 10 a.m. on County Line Road near Gunnoe Road. Columbia County, Harlem and McDuffie County authorities, including canine units, searched for Coe for about an hour before he was discovered inside a driveway drainage pipe near Harlem.
Coe was taken to the Columbia County Detention Center where he was charged with driving with a suspended license and expired tag, failure to properly restrain a child, a broken taillight, giving a false name to a law enforcement officer, obstruction and a parole violation. He is being held without bond, according to jail records.
Some of the charges stem from an April 15 traffic stop in Harlem, where Coe identified himself as his brother. Coe also is the subject of a theft investigation in McDuffie County.
The following accounts were taken from reports from the Columbia County Sheriff's Office. Additional reports are available at www.columbiacountyso.org:
Police seeking robbery suspect
Columbia County deputies were searching Monday for a man they say robbed a Martinez loan business Friday morning.
The branch manager of Augusta Cash Advance at 4127 Columbia Road said a man entered the business at about 11:15 a.m. and walked between desks in the office. The man demanded money, the manager said. She gave him some cash from one of the desk drawers.
Witnesses described the man as black, 20 to 25 years old, 5 foot 7 inches tall, weighing 140 pounds. He was last seen wearing jeans, a red shirt, tennis shoes and a red hat.
Man accused of stealing vehicles
An Augusta man was arrested Thursday after he stole a car from a Martinez gas station, deputies say.
The victim said that at about 1:15 p.m. he saw Brian Miguel Dixon, 19, of the 2200 block of Walden Drive, sitting in a black Ford Ranger beside a gas pump at a convenience store at 190 Baston Road. He told police he left the keys inside his 2008 GMC Sierra truck and went inside the store when he saw Dixon enter his truck. The man said he attempted to stop Dixon, but Dixon locked the truck doors and drove away.
A few minutes later, a sheriff's deputy saw the truck drive into the parking lot of the Race Trac at Washington and Stevens Creek roads and hit a power pole. Police pulled the truck over at Furys Ferry Road and Prattwood Drive, where Dixon was arrested.
The Ford Ranger Dixon is believed to have driven to the Baston Road station also had been reported stolen.
Dixon was charged with theft by receiving stolen property and theft by taking. He was being held in the Columbia County Detention Center Tuesday on a $15,200 bond, according to records.
Gas theft reported
An Evans woman called police Sunday claiming someone siphoned gas from her vehicle.
The 53-year-old said her gas gauge indicated the car had a half tank of gasoline at about 10:30 p.m. Saturday. At about noon on Sunday, the woman said she got into her car and the low-gas indicator light came on.
The woman said she believes someone siphoned $30 worth of gasoline from her car during the night.
Martinez-Columbia Fire Rescue Activity Report for the week of June 1-7:
Structure fires, three; vehicle fire, one; wood/brush/grass fires, three; controlled/unauthorized burns, five; activated fire alarms, 13; medical incidents, 26; vehicle accidents, 10; electrical incident, one; investigate various incidents, nine; and assist citizens, one.