Police Blotter
Car is stolen from Martinez dealer lot
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A salesman at a Martinez car dealership discovered Saturday that a man claiming to be interested in buying the vehicle had switched keys and stolen the car.
The salesman at Gerald Jones Volvo, 4022 Washington Road, said the man visited the dealership about 7 p.m. Friday and said he was interested in buying the 2005 Acura TL
The salesman led the customer to an office, where, he told police, the customer replaced a key on the vehicle's key ring with another and left the lot.
About 9 a.m. Saturday, the salesman arrived at the dealership and found that the sedan, valued at $21,000, was missing.
The dealership employee said the key on the ring left in his office did not match the car's spare key.
Woman receives prank 911 calls
An Evans woman told police Saturday that she had received numerous calls from someone claiming to be a Richmond County Sheriff's Office 911 dispatcher.
She said that she had gotten a call that night from a woman, who identified herself as "dispatcher Morgan" and claimed the 911 center had received a 911 hang-up call from the woman's home.
The resident said the woman called back three more times, said more 911 hang-ups had been received and asked the woman whether she was alone.
A Columbia County sheriff's deputy called the Richmond County dispatch center and found that no dispatcher named Morgan worked there. When the "dispatcher" called again from a private number, the deputy identified himself and she hung up.
Purse is stolen while owner shops
A Martinez woman told police that she discovered Sunday that someone had stolen her purse while she browsed on a Martinez automobile lot.
She said that about 1:30 p.m. she parked her car, with the windows rolled down and the doors unlocked, at the Master Pontiac dealership while she looked around.
Her purse was on the passenger seat, and the dealership was closed.
After a half-hour of looking, she returned to her car and discovered the purse missing, along with her driver's license, a digital camera and numerous credit cards, the woman told police.
Neighbors' vehicles are burglarized
Two Columbia County neighbors told police Sunday that their vehicles had been burglarized.
The Ridge Cliff Drive residents said their vehicles were broken into between 2 and 7 a.m.
One man said he was unsure whether his Dodge Dakota, which was in his driveway, was locked. He said someone stole two duffel bags containing $350 of emergency medical supplies, a $100 GPS unit, a $100 portable DVD player and a $600 laptop computer from the truck.
A neighbor said someone entered his Chevrolet Cobalt and stole receipts and the owner's manual from the glove compartment. Another neighbor found some of the receipts in the road and the manual in the road farther away. Nothing else appeared to have been taken, but a cigarette butt was found in the glove box.
Martinez Columbia Fire Rescue report for April 26-May 2:
Structure fires, four; wood/brush/grass fires, six; vehicle fires, four; controlled/unauthorized burns, five; dumpster fire, one; gas line rupture, one; activated fire alarms, eight; medical incidents, 16; vehicle accidents, 11; investigate various incidents, four; assist residents, five; and other, one.