Police Blotter
Trailer being pulled on I-20 catches fire, closes lanes
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A trailer being pulled on Interstate 20 caught fire near the Belair Road exit Sunday evening, blocking eastbound traffic for about an hour, Columbia County sheriff's Capt. Steve Morris said.
Morris said a wheel hub on the trailer, which was being towed by William Fowler, of Martinez, froze up, generating enough heat to set two propane tanks on the trailer ablaze.
The fire started about 6 p.m., Morris said, and one lane of traffic was reopened about an hour later.
The driver had left his vehicle and was walking to get assistance when the trailer caught fire, according to Columbia County sheriff's dispatchers.
The following accounts were taken from reports from the Columbia County Sheriff's Office. Additional reports are available at www.columbiacountyso.org:
Telephone scammer threatens Evans family
Someone tried to scam money from an Evans man and threatened his wife and children.
The man told police Thursday that he started receiving calls early last week from a man with a heavy accent who said the resident had won a new car and $2.5 million. The caller said to send $525 to a Connecticut address to redeem his prizes. The resident said he knew it was a scam and told the caller he wasn't interested, but the calls kept coming.
On Thursday, the caller left a voice mail message saying he knew where the man lived. The caller said that if the Evans man didn't pay the money, he'd kill him, his wife and children. The man looked up the caller's area code, which was for Jamaica, though the caller claimed to be calling from Las Vegas.
Police listened to the message, which was hard to understand because of the caller's accent; still, the caller's threats were clear. Police phoned the caller and told him not to call the man again.
Man says he was sexually assaulted after fight
An Appling man told police Friday that he was sexually assaulted after being knocked out in a fight at Wildwood Park.
The 23-year-old said he was leaving a restroom near a volleyball court at 6212 Holloway Road on Thursday afternoon when he saw a red Pontiac Grand Am next to his truck and a man in the bed of his truck.
The Appling man jumped into the truck bed and threw the stranger out. During the scuffle, they ended up on the ground. As he stood up, the man said, he was hit in the back of the head and blacked out.
When he woke up, his pants were around his ankles and the stranger and the Grand Am driver were gone.
Girls stole candy from ballpark stand
A Martinez-Evans Little League official told police that two young girls stole about $200 worth of candy from the Kelley Park concession stand Thursday.
The official said a witness saw the girls, ages 11 to 13, run from behind the stand near the ball fields at 3689 Old Petersburg Road in Martinez. The witness said he didn't think anything suspicious until he noticed candy dropped on the ground behind the stand.
A T-ball bat was left near the stand, and police believe it was used to damage the door to the stand.
Martinez-Columbia Fire Rescue report for April 18-24:
Structure fires, five; wood/brush/grass fires, 10; controlled/ unauthorized burns, 11; other fire, one; activated fire alarms, eight; activated carbon monoxide detector, one; gas line rupture, one; medical incidents, 25; vehicle accidents, eight; rescue incident, one; investigate various incidents, four; and assist residents, three.