Police Blottter
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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Vehicle burglarized during lake picnic.
A North Augusta woman called police Monday after discovering someone had broken into her car while she picnicked at Thurmond Lake.
The 36-year-old said that between 1 and 3 p.m. Monday, as she and her husband were at West Dam recreation area, someone stole $520 from her wallet in her car.
She said she realized the money was missing about 4 p.m. when she got home.
Her car might have been unlocked during the picnic, and she noticed only one other person at West Dam.
She said that as the picknickers approached their car to leave, the man sped away in a light-blue Nissan Maxima or Toyota Cressida with a large spoiler.
Copper stolen from new construction
Two Evans builders told police Wednesday that someone stole more than $5,000 worth of copper from houses under construction.
The owner of Arborshade Homes told police between 7 p.m. Monday and 9 a.m. Wednesday someone stole $500 worth of copper from the first floor of an under-construction home at 705 Big Holley Drive in Martinez. The upstairs wiring in the home recently had been stolen, and on Wednesday, the builder found the downstairs wiring had been ripped out.
The owner of ABW Builders reported a theft of copper valued at $4,700 from a nearby house under construction at 709 Big Holley Drive. He said that between 4 p.m. Monday and 3 p.m. Wednesday, someone stole wiring that connects the air conditioning unit to the residence.
This is the second time the copper wiring had been stolen from this home, the owner said.
Bogus tax return stalls man's check
A Harlem man told police Wednesday that someone used his Social Security number to file a tax return, preventing him from getting his stimulus check.
The man said he filed his state and federal tax returns in February and was awaiting the arrival of his stimulus check.
Upon further investigation, the man said he found that the Internal Revenue Service had placed a hold on his check because he had filed two tax returns, in February and in March.
The man said the second set of tax returns had been filed by someone using his Social Security number in Miami.
Martinez vehicle, building vandalized
A Martinez man called police Wednesday after finding someone had sprayed paint onto his car and storage shed.
The 40-year-old man said between 9 p.m. Tuesday and 2:30 p.m. Wednesday someone painted a derogatory name on the driver's side windows of his 2006 Dodge Magnum and painted another curse word on his shed.
Martinez eatery is burglarized
The owner of a Martinez Chinese restaurant told police Tuesday that someone had burglarized his business overnight.
The owner of the Sun Kwong Chinese Restaurant, at 373 S. Belair Road, said between 10 p.m. Monday and 9:30 a.m. Tuesday someone cut power to the restaurant and stole cash from the register.
When he arrived at the restaurant Tuesday morning, the owner said he found the back door pried open and the power turned off.
He turned the power on and noticed that someone had ransacked the front cash register and stole the money from inside it.