Police Blotter

Appling man dies in crash

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An Appling man was killed early Friday in a single-vehicle crash.

Michael P. Cunningham, 47, of the 2300 block of Morris-Callaway Road, was pronounced dead shortly at 7:45 a.m., said Columbia County Coroner Vernon Collins.

Cunningham, who was driving a utility truck for the Amquip crane company, had left his home for work about 5 a.m. and was headed west on the 5300 block of White Oak Road when he rounded a curve and saw a tree across the road from the previous night's storms, said Columbia County Sheriff's Capt. Steve Morris.

When Cunningham swerved to avoid the tree, the truck spun and overturned, Collins said. Cunningham, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was ejected. The vehicle came to rest on top of Cunningham, killing him, Collins said.

Collins said it was "debatable" whether Cunningham was speeding, but said "speed was some contributing factor to the accident," adding that the heavy equipment on the utility truck also could have contributed to the vehicle overturning.

The following accounts were taken from reports from the Columbia County Sheriff's Office. Additional reports are available at www.columbiacountyso.org:

Man struck during break-in

A woman called police from South Carolina just after midnight Sunday saying she had been on the phone with her son in Martinez when he suddenly sounded distressed and ended the call. She then received a 911 text message from him.

Police went to the 22-year-old man's Wave Hill apartment and spoke to him. He said he had been too intoxicated to drive when a friend brought him home from a nearby restaurant just after midnight. He found three men in ski masks in his apartment, he told police. He was on the phone with his mother and told her he had to go.

The resident said two of the intruders ran out and the third punched him in the eye before leaving. Police said a chair in the living room was overturned and the couch cushions strewn about. Drawers of a bedroom dresser were open, but nothing had been taken.

Elderly man victim of scam

Someone trying to scam money from an elderly Grovetown man threatened a sheriff's deputy Monday.

The 77-year-old said he recently received a letter from Gold Rush Inc. stating that he had won $5 million. On June 1, he said, someone called and asked for $275 for taxes and insurance on the millions. The man said he sent the money to an address in Miami.

On June 2, he sent $2,376 to the same address after the representative called and said it was needed for legal fees.

The man said he sent $535 on June 3 after a second caller said he needed the money for the delivery of the man's new Mercedes-Benz.

The man called police Monday, and a deputy was at his home taking his statement when the second caller called again to get more money. The deputy told the caller not to call again and that the man was not going to send more money. The caller became irate and threatened to shoot the deputy in the head and said the deputy "didn't know who he was dealing with."

Woman reports ID thefts

An Evans woman told police Monday that her live-in boyfriend had used her children to get federal tax identification numbers.

The 30-year-old said her 32-year-old boyfriend was using the names of several of her children, who do not live in the United States, to obtain federal tax ID numbers from the IRS.

She said he also tried to open a credit card account using her son's Social Security number.