From Bryan County Sheriff ’s Office reports:
Matter of record: Deputies were called shortly before 10 p.m. Aug. 21 because two men had gotten stranded on a sandbar in the Ogeechee River. It went downhill from there.
“The caller advised dispatch that they had been stranded for about three hours prior to him calling at 21:46 hours,” the report said, noting the deputy advised dispatch to “check with DNR or the fire department to see who could get a boat in the water.”
It turned out to be the fire department, and as the rescue unfolded “dispatch advised that the two males had a dispute and one separated himself from the other, by waiting for rescue at a nearby woodline,” the report said.
And then, this: “The fire rescue boat rescued the one male that called, and while speaking to him the other male walked up. The males indicated that after getting stuck on the sandbar on a jet ski, they started drinking a bottle of tequila. Which of course then led to them having an altercation and (one man hit the other) over the head with the bottle,” the report said.
The man who got hit on the head with the bottle told deputies they’d been friends a long time and he didn’t want to press charges. Still, “(He) went with Bryan County EMS to the hospital because he needed a few stitches on his forehead.”
Theft: An Ellabell man reported Aug. 27 that someone went into the unlocked tool box on the back of his pickup and stole a Black and Decker 18 volt cordless drill, battery and charger; a green metal ammo box with 2,000 22 caliber magnum rounds; one box of bird shot and two Channellock 12-inch screwdrivers (one Phillips head, the other flat head, both with blue grips).
The man also said he left his shed door open, and found his orange 24-inch toolbox “containing miscellaneous plumbing tools and fittings,” was also gone.
Counterfeiting: A deputy was sent to a gas station on Highway 280 “in reference to a counterfeit $20 bill,” around 8:30 p.m. Aug. 26. The report said the clerk advised that a man tried to use the $20 to buy lottery tickets. “She asked him to write down his name,” which the man apparently did, then “he ran out the door when she called 911. She did not know which direction he went.” The woman was given a case number and the bill was confiscated as evidence.
Scam: A man told BCSO Aug. 23 he got a phone call from someone saying he was Michael McGill with the Social Security Administration.
The complainant said the man “told him his Social Security number had been compromised and requested his Social Security number.”
After the complainant gave the caller his number, the man transferred him to a “JJ McGrady, who identified himself as a DEA agent. McGrady told him there was a warrant for his arrest out of Texas.”
The complainant said he realized it was a scam and told McGrady he was calling police, and the man ended the phone call.
The deputy who handled the report said he told the complainant to call credit bureaus and have a fraud alert placed on his credit. He also checked the complainant through both the Georgia Crime Information Center and the National Crime Information Center and found no warrants.
The deputy then called the phone number - 800-861-2535 - and someone with an “Indian accent” answered the phone and said “Social Security.” When the deputy said he was law enforcement the man hung up. A callback went unanswered.