Police blotter
Judge won't cut sentence
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A Superior Court judge on Friday rejected a request to reduce the sentence of a former Augusta gynecologist convicted of sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl.
Chief Judge J. Carlisle Overstreet denied the motion to shorten the 20-year sentence of Jerry Jackson Lee II, 50, of Evans, according to court documents. In his response to the motion, Overstreet wrote that the "sentence imposed is appropriate and that no compelling reason exists to modify the defendant's sentence."
In 2007, a jury acquitted Lee of three counts of child molestation but found him guilty of aggravated sexual battery. The state Court of Appeals affirmed that verdict in September.
The following accounts were taken from reports from the Columbia County Sheriff's Office. Additional reports are available at www.columbiacountyso.org:
Thieves try to get cash
Thieves tried to get cash at an Evans clothing store for some items that had been stolen from the cashier's storage unit.
Two men tried to return the items to Marshalls, in Mullins Crossing shopping center, around 6 p.m. using a receipt listing her name as the purchaser. The cashier said that she had bought the items about a year ago and that they were supposed to be stored in Aiken.
The men left with the items in a white hatchback.
When the cashier checked the storage unit, it had been emptied out.
Man charged in argument
A Grovetown man was arrested Saturday after his ex-girlfriend said he beat her during an argument.
The 19-year-old Martinez woman said she was visiting friends at a Maywood Drive home when Matthew Ryan Taylor, 21, arrived. They argued, and she tried to leave, she told police.
She said the argument escalated outside as Taylor, of the 100 block of Fall Creek Lane, screamed at her. She pushed him away and told him to calm down.
Taylor responded, she said, by slamming her into her car, causing a large dent, and pushing her head into the concrete. She said he pulled her to her feet and slapped her three times before she got into her car.
As she tried to leave, she and Taylor fought over her cell phone, which she gave him then ran inside the home. After a friend retrieved the phone, the woman left.
Taylor, who was charged with criminal trespass and battery, told police they had argued but denied the argument turned physical. Police saw a large swelling with redness and abrasions on the back of the woman's head. She also had a small laceration on her chest, where she said Taylor bit her, and the right side of her face was red. Police said Taylor smelled of alcohol.
Taylor was released from the Columbia County Detention Center on Saturday after posting a $4,200 bond, according to jailers.
Martinez-Columbia Fire Rescue report for Feb. 28-March 6:
Structure fires, two; wood/brush/grass fire, one; vehicle fire, one; controlled/unauthorized burns, six; other fire, one; activated fire alarms, 10; activated carbon monoxide detector, one; medical incidents, 25; vehicle accidents, 10; electrical incident, one; interior natural gas leaks, two; and investigate incidents, three.