Police blotter
The following accounts were taken from reports from the Columbia County Sheriff's Office. Reports are available at www.columbiacountyso.org:
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Woman says she was scammed on travel site
An Appling woman told police Thursday that someone used her membership to a travel Web site to contact her for a credit card scam.
The 49-year-old said that a man named Charles called her at home and said he was a representative of Cheap Trips, an Internet travel agency she had joined but never used. When she refused to give her credit card information, he provided a phone number to call him back to prove he was legitimate.
After calling and being connected with Charles, the woman said, she purchased two $99 travel packages for four airline tickets per package. As of Thursday, she hadn't received the tickets and was not able to contact anyone at Cheap Trips by phone, getting a recording stating that no employees were working because of the snow.
Suspecting a scam, she contacted her credit card company and found three $188 charges. The company said a ZIP code of 65792, a country code of GB and a toll-free phone number were associated with the transactions.
She said her account has been frozen and she plans to dispute the charges.
Party held in Evans house still under construction
An employee of an Evans builder discovered a party had been held inside an empty house owned by the construction company.
The employee of Pierwood Homes said Sunday that he discovered that someone had entered the house on Willow Bay Drive in Evans between 9 p.m. Saturday and 3:45 p.m. Sunday and written on an interior wall. The intruder drank several beers and smoked cigars inside the house.
The doors to the house were locked, but the dead bolts were not. Neighbors said they saw a black, older-model truck in the area late Saturday.
Nothing appeared to be missing from the house, and it sustained $100 in damage to the wall.
ATV damages church property, ball field
A Grovetown plumber discovered Saturday that someone used an all-terrain vehicle to damage property at a Grovetown church.
The man said that between 6 p.m. Friday and 1:30 p.m. Saturday, during and after the snowstorm, someone rode an ATV up a hill and onto a ball field at Greater Augusta Apostolic Church at 4406 Wrightsboro Road.
The ATV damaged the grass on the hill and ball field. ATV tracks led to and from a neighborhood behind the church.
Forgotten bank card taken from ATM, used for $300
A North Augusta man said Saturday that someone used his bank card after he left it in a Columbia County ATM.
The 29-year-old said that he used the card at 5:15 p.m. and mistakenly left it behind after his withdrawal. About 7 p.m., he discovered someone had stolen the card and made a $300 withdrawal at the same ATM.
Martinez-Columbia Fire Rescue report for Feb. 7-13:
Structure fires, three; wood/brush/grass fires, two; vehicle fire, one; controlled/unauthorized burns, three; interior natural gas leak, one; activated fire alarms, 13; activated carbon monoxide detector, one; medical incidents, 32; vehicle accidents, 10; rescue incident, one; electrical incidents, 10; investigate various incidents, four; assist residents, four; and other, one.