Police blotter
Several men arrested in hotel prostitution sting
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Several men were arrested last week at a Columbia County motel and charged with pandering.
Acting on complaints, Columbia County sheriff's investigators conducted a two-day operation at the Super 8 motel at 456 Park West Drive near Interstate 20, which resulted in seven pandering arrests and two drug arrests, sheriff's Maj. Rick Whitaker said Saturday.
On Thursday night, Charles Bradford English, 33, of Thomson; Benjamin Thomas Tanner, 27, of Grovetown; and Winston James O'Connell, 31, of Augusta, were arrested after they solicited an undercover officer "to perform an act of prostitution," according to reports by the sheriff's investigators.
On Friday evening, Robert Wayne Barker, 55, of Augusta; Steve Craig Terry, 51, of Aiken; Nathan Kurt Heatwall Goering, 42, of Keysville, Ga; and Gilberto Alvarez-Martinez, 30, of Martinez, were arrested at the same place and charged with pandering, according to jail records. They were released from the Columbia County Detention Center on $1,600 bonds.
Chartez Franklin Kitchings, 30, and Marlin Boaz Landy, 26, both of Aiken, were arrested at the motel early Saturday on drug charges.
They remained in jail Monday with bonds set at $16,700, according to jail records.
The following accounts were taken from reports from the Columbia County Sheriff's Office. Additional reports are available at www.columbiacountyso.org:
Television, VCR are stolen from Martinez church
A youth pastor at The Quest Church in Columbia Square shopping center found Sunday that a rock had been thrown through the church's front door. Between 4:15 p.m. Saturday and 8:15 a.m. Sunday, someone stole a 37-inch flat-screen TV and a VCR, both of which had been visible from outside the building.
About the same time, a nearby business was broken into in the same manner. The owner of Natural Nails, in Ashley Square across Washington Road from Columbia Square, said that between 8 p.m. Saturday and 10:50 a.m. Sunday, someone threw a rock through the front glass door. Burglars tried to steal two wall-mounted flat-screen TVs but were unable to get them off the wall.
Woman claiming to work for HeadStart steals bikes
A woman claiming to be working for a Wrens, Ga., HeadStart program stole 30 bicycles from the Martinez Walmart store Thursday.
A loss prevention employee at the store at 260 Bobby Jones Expressway said that about 12:45 p.m. the woman tried to buy 30 bicycles with a starter check, which was declined. The woman said it was because she had just started the business.
As the woman tried to check out, the bicycles were being loaded onto a truck and trailer. The cashier went outside to retrieve the bicycles, but the truck and trailer had left.
The woman left the cashier her information and said she would return before 3 p.m. with the money.
Police tried to call her, but got voice mail and left a message.
The bicycles are worth $1,714.
Jewelry store owner reports checks forged
Someone forged checks on a Martinez jewelry store's bank account.
The owner said someone reproduced two checks on an account belonging to Martinez Gold, 3801 Washington Road. She said the checks, totaling $4,401.25, were used at two unknown locations. The account was closed.
Man says cash was stolen from truck as he shopped
Someone stole $1,000 from a Grovetown man's truck while he was shopping.
He said he had withdrawn the cash from an Evans bank and gone to Retreat Spa and Salon at 4246 Washington Road in Evans to buy a gift certificate. After about five minutes, he found the passenger window of his truck broken and the cash missing from the center console. The driver's door lock was damaged by an object being forced into it.
Martinez Columbia Fire Rescue report for Dec. 12-19:
Structure fires, five; controlled/unauthorized burn, one; dumpster fire, one; activated fire alarms, 12; activated carbon monoxide detector, one; gas line rupture, one; medical incidents, 24; vehicle accidents, 15; rescue incident, one; weather damage, one; investigate various incidents, four; and assist residents, one.