Police blotter
Student charged with shooting photos of teacher
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A Greenbrier High School student was arrested Tuesday on charges of taking photos up a teacher's skirt.
Curtis Jamar Pickard, 17, of the 4200 block of Waterston Courtyard in Evans, was charged with unlawful eavesdropping or surveillance. He was released from the Columbia County Detention Center later that day after posting a $2,600 bond, according to jail records.
The school's public safety officer told police that on Tuesday, numerous students told her that Pickard had used his cell phone to take pictures up a teacher's skirt Monday without her knowledge and showed them to others, according to a Columbia County Sheriff's Office police report.
The officer checked Pickard's cell phone, which contained pictures of what the 33-year-old teacher identified as her legs and the underwear she was wearing Monday, according to the report.
Woman says purse stolen at restaurant
A Martinez woman told police Wednesday morning that a fellow patron at an Evans restaurant stole her purse.
The 32-year-old told Columbia County deputies she was at the bar at Applebee's Grill and Bar, 505 N. Belair Road, about 11:45 p.m. Monday when a man seated beside her brushed by her, hitting her purse when he went outside to smoke a cigarette.
She said that after the man came back inside, paid his tab and left, which she noticed that her purse was gone, according to a police report. The purse contained numerous credit cards, $50 and a necklace.
10 people are arrested in two prostitution stings
Four women and six men have been arrested in an online prostitution sting by Columbia County sheriff's investigators.
Capt. Steve Morris said the arrests, which started in mid-December, involved two sting operations using a national online classified advertising service.
In the first sting, in mid-December, county investigators responded to online escort service advertisements and invited four women and two men to meet at a hotel near Interstate 20, Morris said.
Morris would not reveal the name of the hotel used for the sting. He said the hotel owner agreed to allow a room to be used for the operation so long as the hotel's name was not released.
After the advertisers arrived and negotiated prices for sex with undercover investigators, police charged them with prostitution, Morris said.
In January, Columbia County investigators turned the tables by setting up their own online escort service ad, Morris said. The advertisement netted the arrests of four area men who showed up at the hotel, met with an undercover investigator and offered money for sex, Morris said.
"Instead of cruising the streets for prostitutes, these men responded to an online ad looking for sex," Morris said. "This ad was created by our investigators. It included a photo and would describe erotic services."
The agency is continuing to run the sting operation and expects more arrests, Morris said.
Arrested in December and charged with prostitution were Katrina Zuill, 19, of Augusta; Heather Patrick, 23, of Norcross, Ga.; Lisa Bogdan, 28, of Sardis, Ga.; Kristine Matthews, 23, of Decatur, Ga.; Sahara Friday, 27, of Hephzibah; and Bryan Holley, 27, of North Augusta.
Friday also was charged with interference with government property after he cut two slits in his mattress at the Columbia County Detention Center, jailers said.
Arrested in January and charged with pandering were James Samuels, 28, of Langley; Isiah Williams, 49, of Aiken; James Flynn, 52, of Evans; and Thomas McCook, 25, of Augusta, Morris said.
All of those arrested have been released on bond with the exception of Holley, who remained in the Columbia County Detention Center Friday with bond set at $1,600, according to a jail spokesman.