From Bryan County Sheriff ’s Office initial incident reports:

Fraud: A Richmond Hill man reported May 1 that “over the last 30 days he has been in contact via phone with an unknown male who informed him he won a sweepstakes. (The complainant) stated the caller informed him he won 23 million dollars, two cars, $500,000 in cash and $20,000 a month for life.” The complainant then said the caller “also told him that in order to receive the prizes, he would have to send money to pay the taxes on the items.”

The complainant said “at first he sent at the callers request $2,345 to an address in Texas, but he did not remember the address. (He) stated after he sent the check to Texas, he was told by the caller to send a series of the listed cashiers checks (to a Columbia, S.C. address and made out to a woman). (The complainant) stated he did what the caller asked ….”

Then, on April 30 he was called by a man from a bank in Columbia who told him the woman he’d been sending the checks to had been arrested for fraud, and she had the complainant’s checks. The bank man said she tried to cash checks worth a total of $20,000 but couldn’t because the bank called the cops.

The deputy talked to an investigator from Forest Acres PD in Columbia who said the woman was involved in a scam ring and the complainant’s checks were evidence.

He got case numbers.

Matter of record: Deputies were sent to a Richmond Hill address around 4:40 p.m. April 26 where a complainant said neighbors were “using their trash cans, removing his for sale sign and parking their vehicles in his driveway.” The complainant said they’re trying to sell the home and “their neighbors keep obstructing the process,” and pointed out a car parked in his driveway.

The deputy ran the tag number and it belonged to a teen who said she was sorry she parked there and was told to do it by her parents. A parent then came over and “handled the issue of the trash,” and the complainant said she’d let the neighbor “’borrow’” the trashcans as long as they are emptied and returned to the residence by the following day. Everybody agreed “to the terms,” the report said.

Damage to property, simple assault: Deputies were sent May 5 to an Ellabell address where the complainant said her boyfriend “broke the mirror on her car, a television in the house and sliced two of her tires on her vehicle. (She) also stated that (he) cut her middle finger with a knife. EMS was offered but refused by (her).”

The man wasn’t there but deputies called and he said the complainant was upset “because he found another girlfriend and she broke the windows in his home, and when he was trying to leave with the kids to get away from her she cut the tires to the stop him from leaving and broke the mirror off the car to get at him,” the report said. “Note the Bryan County Sheriff ’s Office was out to this residence 05/04/2020 because (the man) stated (the complainant) picked up a sledge hammer and damaged his pressure washer because he found another girlfriend.”

Theft: A woman reported May 4 that in February 2020 a lot of cash from her home in Richmond Hill.

The woman said only she and her husband knew about the money and where it was kept etc. “There was more than fifteen thousand dollars in three envelopes,” a detective was told, and the woman noticed in February some of it was gone.

“She believed her husband took the money to purchase a boat. She didn’t ask him about the money at that time, because they were not speaking with each other because of the boat purchase. When she did ask her husband about the money, he told her that he didn’t take the money. He paid for the boat with a check. When he noticed the money missing, he believed she took it.”

They then decided only one other person had been in the home since the money went missing, a Rincon woman who somehow knew the complainant had gotten a large amount of cash back in February.

The complainant said the Rincon woman bragged about getting a “twenty thousand dollar bonus,” etc., but added the woman denied taking the money and told her to prove it. The case is under investigation.