Police blotter

Surgery center warns its patients of infection risk

//

The Evans Surgery Center sent out letters last week to warn patients of possible infection.

The center is notifying about 1,300 patients who underwent gastrointestinal procedures with endoscopes that might not have been properly sanitized, according to the letter, dated Tuesday.

An internal quality review of the medical facility on Ronald Reagan Drive discovered that the staff did not follow a manufacturer's recommendation to sanitize the endoscope for at least five minutes.

Jeff Simless, the vice president of operations at the center, confirmed the authenticity of the letter. After discussions with "leading authorities in infectious diseases," according to the letter, "the risk of disease transmission is near zero." Simless said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta was one of the authorities consulted.

The center is offering free testing at any LabCorp office "to confirm that no infection was transmitted." LabCorp can be reached by calling (800) 203-0560 or visiting www.labcorp.com. The testing facility will report the results to the surgery center, which will notify patients within 10 working days.

According to the letter, a toll-free number, (888) 594-8651, was set up to answer patients' questions

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

Augustan charged with shoplifting

An Augusta man was arrested Wednesday, charged with trying to steal nearly $200 worth of video games from the Martinez Kmart.

Clayton Jamario Bland, 21, of the 2500 block of Kensington Drive, was charged with shoplifting. He was held in the Columbia County Detention Center on Thursday on a $1,100 bond, according to jail records.

The loss-prevention employee at the store at 3830 Washington Road told police that just before 7 p.m. Bland took nine Nintendo DS video games out of the packaging in the toy department. He then saw Bland put the games in his jeans.

After eating two pizza-flavored snacks, Bland tried to leave the store with the games, the employee said. The games were recovered, and Bland was arrested.

Electronics, jewelry taken in burglary

An Evans woman told police Wednesday that someone had stolen more than $1,700 worth of electronics and jewelry from her home.

She said that about 4 p.m. her daughter called her and said she couldn't find her Xbox and Playstation 2 video game systems, which had been in the garage.

When the resident later checked her jewelry box, she discovered that two necklaces, a diamond wedding ring and a watch were missing. TheThey were valued at $1,735.

There were no signs of forced entry, but she said someone must have entered through a dog portal on a rear door.

The following account was taken from reports from the Grovetown Department of Public Safety:

Couple call police over death threat

A Grovetown couple called police last month after they were threatened over the Internet.

They were online about 9:30 p.m. Feb. 26 when someone appeared on the screen and began a conversation with them. They gave the police the screen name for the other person.

During the conversation, the couple told police, the person said he would kill the man and rape the woman. The woman said she replied that she didn't want to talk anymore and asked him to stop.

After police arrived, the couple got the person to repeat the threat and give a full name and telephone number. An officer tried to speak to the person, who did not believe the couple had actually called the police.