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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Vehicle stolen; others burglarized
Someone stole a car from a Springlakes neighborhood resident Monday and broke into several others.
A Martinez woman said that between 10 p.m. Monday and 6:30 a.m. Tuesday someone stole her 2003 Honda Civic from the driveway of her Knollcrest Circle home.
Six nearby residents -- on Knollcrest Circle, Cofield Road, McBride Road and Kestwick Drive -- told police that eight vehicles were burglarized during the same period. The burglars stole cameras, computers, GPS units, clothing, wallets, cash and firearms.
Most of the vehicles were in driveways and were unlocked. A Cofield Road resident said thast her Lexus was locked and that someone broke the driver's window to steal her iPod.
Man charged with stealing wheels
Police arrested an Augusta man on Tuesday after a Martinez woman said she caught him trying to steal car wheels from her back porch.
Trevis Rhyne, 25, of the 4000 block of Wheeler Woods Road, was charged with criminal trespass. He was held Thursday in Columbia County Detention Center on a $1,600 bond, according to jail records.
The woman pulled into the driveway of her Roberts Road home just after 7 p.m. and noticed that two wheels from the back porch were on the ground next to the house. In the backyard, she saw the other two wheels on the porch steps. A man, later identified as Rhyne, jumped off the porch and walked away.
Police found Rhyne walking on Roberts Road. When he saw police, he quickly changed direction. He admitted to trying to steal the wheels when police stopped and questioned him. He said a friend told him to take them.
Vehicles vandalized at Harlem home
A Thomson man and a Dearing woman told police Thursday that their vehicles were damaged while at a Harlem home Wednesday.
The man said he, his wife and the other woman met at a home on G.R. Tucker Road about 8 p.m. and left in his wife's car. When they returned about 12:30 a.m., he found all four tires on his Nissan Titan truck flat with inch-long holes in the sidewalls, and scratches on all sides of the truck.
The woman said the tires on her Chevrolet Suburban also was scratched and its tires flat. Damage to the vehicles is estimated to be $2,880 each.
2 try to return stolen merchandise
A Martinez woman and a Hephzibah man were arrested Wednesday after she tried to return merchandise, previously stolen by the man, to a store.
Kellie Lee Wilcox, 21, was charged with theft by deception, and Stephen Lewis Trout, 27, was charged with shoplifting. Trout was released from the Columbia County Detention Center on Thursday after posting a $1,100 bond. Wilcox was still being held in the jail Thursday on a $1,100 bond, according to jail records.
A loss prevention employee at Kmart, 3830 Washington Road in Martinez, told police that about 1:15 p.m. he saw Trout conceal five packs of drill bits and leave the store. The employee said that a few minutes later he saw Wilcox get out a car with Trout, go inside the store and try to return the drill bits.
3rd man at large after neighborhood search
Police Friday were still searching for a third burglary suspect who ran from police after a brief car chase ended off Hardy McManus Road in Evans Thursday.
The man, known only as "Bear," remained at large Friday, according to Columbia County sheriff's Capt. Steve Morris.
Deputies were called just after 11 a.m. Thursday by a resident who reported a suspicious vehicle, a green Ford Expedition, slowly driving through residential neighborhoods off Mullikin Road.
Police attempted to stop the vehicle, which led them on a brief pursuit before the driver abandoned the SUV on Woodruff Court. The three occupants fled on foot.
Maurice Crawford, 30, of Evans, was immediately taken into custody. Police set up around the area searching for the other two men.
Timothy Ware, 25, of Evans, was found at about 9 p.m. hiding under a house in the Rivershyre Subdivision, Morris said.
Police are investigating whether items including a flat-screen television found inside the SUV are stolen, Morris said.
Teen enters guilty plea during murder trial
An Augusta teen pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter and other charges Thursday in connection to a 2008 home invasion and murder in Grovetown.
Superior Court Judge James G. Blanchard Jr. sentenced Garland Ray Pittman, 16, to 20 years in prison for the voluntary manslaughter charge. Pittman also received an additional 10 years in prison for robbery and two five-year probation terms for two counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
Pittman was the last of five men to stand trial for the September 2008 fatal shooting of Rickey Gibson, 33, and assault of his girlfriend and infant son. The plea was entered while Pittman's trial, which started Tuesday, was underway.
Pittman's defense attorney had filed an intent to seek an insanity defense, requiring a mental evaluation to determine his competency to stand trial. In February, a Columbia County jury decided that Pittman was competent.
The four other Augusta men involved in the crime stood trial in 2009.
Karmbi Octavious Young, 20; Martin Napoleon Holmes, 19; and Willie Bernard Butler; 20; were convicted of murder among several other charges. Antwon Booker, 21, was found guilty of burglary, armed robbery, two counts of aggravated assault and other charges. The jury acquitted Booker of malice murder and couldn't reach a verdict on the felony murder charge.
Each man was sentenced to life in prison.
Police say the men broke into Gibson's home that he shared with his girlfriend and infant son and held the family at gunpoint. Before fatally shooting Gibson, the men put a gun in the baby's mouth and shot at his girlfriend when she fled the home with the baby, according to authorities.
The following accounts were taken from reports from the Columbia County Sheriff's Office. Reports are available at www.columbiacountyso.org:
Augusta man charged with stealing wheels from porth
Police arrested an Augusta man on Tuesday after a Martinez woman said she caught him trying to steal car wheels from her back porch.
Trevis Rhyne, 25, of the 4000 block of Wheeler Woods Road, was charged with criminal trespass. He was held Thursday in Columbia County Detention Center on a $1,600 bond, according to jail records.
The woman pulled into the driveway of her Roberts Road home just after 7 p.m. and noticed that two wheels from the back porch were on the ground next to the house. In the backyard, she saw the other two wheels on the porch steps. A man, later identified as Rhyne, jumped off the porch and walked away.
Police found Rhyne walking on Roberts Road. When he saw police, he quickly changed direction. He admitted to trying to steal the wheels when police stopped and questioned him. He said a friend told him to take them.
Two vehicles vandalized at Harlem home
A Thomson man and a Dearing woman told police Thursday that their vehicles were damaged while at a Harlem home Wednesday.
The man said he, his wife and the other woman met at a home on G.R. Tucker Road about 8 p.m. and left in his wife's car. When they returned about 12:30 a.m., he found all four tires on his Nissan Titan truck flat with inch-long holes in the sidewalls, and scratches on all sides of the truck.
The woman said the tires on her Chevrolet Suburban also was scratched and its tires flat. Damage to the vehicles is estimated to be $2,880 each.
Two arrested after trying to return stolen items
A Martinez woman and a Hephzibah man were arrested Wednesday after she tried to return merchandise, previously stolen by the man, to a store.
Kellie Lee Wilcox, 21, was charged with theft by deception, and Stephen Lewis Trout, 27, was charged with shoplifting. Trout was released from the Columbia County Detention Center on Thursday after posting a $1,100 bond. Wilcox was still being held in the jail Thursday on a $1,100 bond, according to jail records.
A loss prevention employee at Kmart, 3830 Washington Road in Martinez, told police that about 1:15 p.m. he saw Trout conceal five packs of drill bits and leave the store. The employee said that a few minutes later he saw Wilcox get out of a car with Trout, go inside the store and try to return the drill bits.
Car stolen in Springlakes; others vehicles burglarized
Someone stole a car from a Springlakes neighborhood resident Monday and broke into several others.
A Martinez woman said that between 10 p.m. Monday and 6:30 a.m. Tuesday someone stole her 2003 Honda Civic from the driveway of her Knollcrest Circle home.
Six nearby residents -- on Knollcrest Circle, Cofield Road, McBride Road and Kestwick Drive -- told police that eight vehicles were burglarized during the same period. The burglars stole cameras, computers, GPS units, clothing, wallets, cash and firearms.
Most of the vehicles were in driveways and were unlocked. A Cofield Road resident said that her Lexus was locked and that someone broke the driver's window to steal her iPod.