Police Blotter
The following accounts were taken from reports from the Columbia County Sheriff's Office. Additional reports are available at www.columbia countyso.org:
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Online gamer makes vulgar comments to boy
Someone made sexual comments Sunday to a 9-year-old Grovetown boy through an online video game.
The boy's father said that the child was playing his Xbox 360 system about 8:15 p.m. and talking through the headset with someone using the screen name McNuggets1. The boy suddenly stopped playing and told his mother that McNuggets1 told him through the headset that he had a webcam and asked to see the boy take his clothes off.
His father sent a private message to McNuggets1 via the game system, posing as his son, asking, "Why did you ask me to take off my clothes when we were playing? That scared me." McNuggets1 asked a vulgar question in response.
Woman buys used tickets
A cook at an Appling convenience store told police Sunday that a man claiming to need gas money sold her cash-winning lottery tickets that had already been redeemed.
The man entered the Jet Food Store, 6007 Clarks Hill Road, just after 11 a.m. and tried to redeem the tickets at the cash register. When the clerk told him that the store didn't sell or redeem lottery tickets, he said he was out of gas and needed gas money to get to Spartanburg, S.C.
He approached the woman and offered her the three lottery tickets, worth $40 in winnings, for $25. She purchased the tickets from the man, who then purchased $5 in gas and left.
A friend of the woman came into the store a short time later and told her the tickets had already been redeemed and were worthless.
Fake bills used in Evans
Employees at three Evans businesses recently told police that someone used fake $100 bills at their establishments.
A customer service manager at Publix, 5119 Washington Road, said that just before 1 p.m. Sunday two women made purchases of less than $10 and paid with $100 bills at separate registers.
The manager said she was called by one of the cashiers, who said the bill felt funny. Noting the similar transaction at a nearby register, the manager compared bills and found they had the same serial number.
When contacting other area Publix stores, the manager said she discovered a similar bill used at Publix at 4274 Washington Road on Saturday also bore the same serial number. The manager of that store inspected the bill under a black light and determined that it, too, was counterfeit.
Someone also passed a fraudulent $100 bill Saturday at the Evans 14 Cinemas at 4365 Towne Centre Drive, according to the manager.
He said he discovered the bill while organizing the nightly cash deposit. The manager said he examined the bill and discovered it was actually a $5 bill that had been washed and printed over as a $100 bill. The bill had both the U.S. Mint strip and hologram of a $5 bill.
Salon phone used for calls
Someone used the phone at a Martinez beauty salon to call 900 numbers.
The owner of Belair Hair, 4387 Ridge Trail, said she got a letter from Pennsylvania-based K.T. Communications about an account. When she called the company, a representative said that they have her Social Security number and that if the bill of $15.89 was not paid it would affect her credit.
The woman resolved the issue with her phone service provider. She does not intend to pay the bill, but does intend to prosecute on felony theft of services charges if the person who made the calls is identified.
Martinez Columbia Fire Rescue report for Feb. 21-27:
Structure fires, five; wood/brush/grass fires, four; controlled/ unauthorized burns, six; other fire, one; activated fire alarms, 10; medical incidents, 25; vehicle accidents, six; electrical incident, one; investigate various incidents, three; assist residents, four; and mutual aid/public safety assistance, one.