Police Blotter
4 men enter pleas in murder case
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Four Augusta men arrested in the September home invasion and fatal shooting of a Grovetown man pleaded not guilty during a arraignment hearing Monday.
Willie Bernard Butler Jr., 19, Karmbi Octavius Young, 19, Patrick Antwon Booker, 20, and Martin Napoleon Holmes, 17, are charged with murder, armed robbery, burglary, kidnapping, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime in the Sept. 24 death of Rickey Gibson, 33.
The men are being held in the Columbia County Detention Center without bond, according to jail records.
Garland Ray Pittman, 14, of Augusta, faces the same charges and is being tried as an adult because of the nature of the crimes, but his Monday arraignment was postponed. He is being held in the Columbia County Detention Center.
Harlem native dies in head-on collision
Harlem native Judson Farrar, 22, died Dec. 30 in Burke County in a head-on collision.
Farrar was the passenger in a car driven by a 16-year-old girl when she crossed the center lineand hit another vehicle. Farrar was a senior airman in the Air Force stationed in Florida.
New Year proved calm on highways
Only two people were arrested for driving under the influence in Columbia County during the two-day New Year's holiday.
Aside from the DUI arrests, the holiday was uneventful, Columbia County sheriff's Capt. Steve Morris said. Also, there were no traffic fatalities in Columbia County, Coroner Vernon Collins said.
The following accounts were taken from reports from the Columbia County Sheriff's Office. More reports are available at www.columbiacounty so.org:
Man in motel says ex slashed his tires
An Augusta man told police Thursday that his ex-girlfriend had flattened the tires of his sport utility vehicle at a Columbia County motel.
The 25-year-old said that between 9:10 and 9:25 a.m., she knocked on the door of his room at the Quality Inn, 4073 Jimmie Dyess Parkway, near Grovetown. He refused to open the door and called the desk clerk to check on his truck.
The clerk told him that all four tires were flat. Police noted that the tires had been cut with a knife.
The motel management provided a copy of video surveillance footage of the incident to police.
Woman seen with man's stolen wallet
A Martinez convenience store clerk called police Friday after finding an Augusta man's missing wallet in the bathroom garbage can.
The clerk of the Circle K, 459 Old Evans Road, said she saw a woman in the bathroom looking through a small brown wallet. After the woman left, the clerk saw the wallet in the trash can. The wallet contained a Georgia identification card belonging to a 31-year-old Augusta man.
Police contacted the owner, who said he had lost his wallet at Augusta Mall. A debit card and $16 were missing from the wallet. The man said a bank representative had told him the card had been used at the Circle K on Old Evans Road and another Circle K on Furys Ferry Road.
The clerk said that the woman she saw looking through the wallet left in a white Nissan truck driven by a man.
Vandal pours chili on car's windshield
A Martinez woman told police Friday that someone vandalized two of her vehicles at her home.
The 36-year-old woman said that between 9 and 9:45 p.m. someone rolled toilet paper over her GMC Yukon and poured chili on the windshield of a Chevrolet Monte Carlo. She said there were several juvenile boys in the area earlier, but is unsure why anyone would vandalize her vehicles.
There was no permanent damage to the vehicles; the resident washed the chili off with a garden hose.
Martinez-Columbia Fire Rescue Activity Report for Dec. 28-Jan. 3:
Structure fires, two; wood/grass fires, six; controlled/unauthorized burns, four; fire alarms, seven; gas line ruptures, two; medical incidents, 14; vehicle accidents, 11; and various incidents, seven.