Delete-Merge UpIncidents below taken from Bryan County Sheriff’s Department and Richmond Hill Police Department reports.

Theft by taking

A Richmond Hill Police Department officer was sent to Love’s Truck Stop on Oct. 1 in response to a report of theft from the store’s video slot machines. According the report, a man who collected money from the machines said someone was “’stringing’ his machine, a method in which a dollar bill is inserted into the machine and then withdrawn with the use of a string attached to the bill.”

That man told the officer this wasn’t an isolated incident and that his machines in Pooler and Brunswick “have also been stolen from by the same individual,” the report said, noting a photograph of the offender was in Brunswick.
The man was unable to provide the photograph to RHPD, but estimated about $200 had been taken from the Richmond Hill machine.

Criminal trespass

A truck driver called the Bryan County Sheriff’s Department around 8:20 p.m. Friday to report another truck driver threw something at his truck and broke a window while he was pulling into a service station on Highway 80 in Ellabell.

The driver told a BCSD deputy that “as he was pulling into the service station, another semi was pulling out,” the report said. “The driver of that semi, who he did not know, threw an object at his vehicle and shattered the driver side window … The complainant stated that he tried to get the license plate off of the offender’s vehicle but was unable to do so.”

No word on what the object was that hit the window. The complainant was given a case number and told how to get a copy of the report. “This case was exceptionally cleared due to lack of leads,” the report said.

Damage to property

A BCSD deputy was called to a Clarktown Road address on Saturday regarding a torn up car cover.

The complainant told the deputy she walked outside and “observed that her car cover had been removed from her vehicle,” the report said. “(Complainant) found the cloth car cover laying on the ground next to the passenger’s side of her vehicle. The cloth car cover had been damaged.”

The woman told the deputy she “suspects that stray dogs within the area is what caused this damage,” the report continued. “(Complainant) also advised that this car cover costs $60.”

The deputy checked out the woman’s car and noted it “did have some small scratch marks along the hood area. These marks appear to have been from an animal’s claw.”

The woman got a case number and was told how to get a copy of the report.

Matter of record

A woman called Richmond Hill police around 7:30 p.m. Sept. 30 after she spotted a “juvenile left unattended inside of a running vehicle” in the Kroger parking lot.

The woman said she parked next to the vehicle and noticed as she got out that a nearby car was “running with a juvenile inside,” and no adult, the report said. The woman told the officer she called police and then waited about 8-10 minutes until a man come up and acknowledged the vehicle was his. A short time later, the child’s mother arrived and the officer wasn’t far behind.

He spoke with the child’s mother, who said she went into the store to get milk and left the man in the vehicle with the kid. The man said he left the car when he realized the mother had left her money in the vehicle. The mother said she told the man she had money and to go back to the vehicle, but he said he stopped to get gas money – “but he had a direct view of the vehicle.”

Police checked the store’s security video and saw the child was left unattended for a short time. The mother was given an information guide for victims and witnesses, the report noted.  

Harassing communications

A BCSD deputy took a walk-in report Saturday from a South Bryan man who said he wife got a text message on her cell phone around 2:30 a.m. from a neighbor which said “you should have been a good neighbor.”

Another text, this one consisting of only a question mark, was sent a few minutes later. The complainant said he thinks the texts were the result of an earlier incident. Warrant procedures were explained.

Matter of record

An RHPD officer made a stop at Clyde’s convenience store in Richmond Hill shortly before 10 p.m. Friday night, got out of his squad car and “noticed what appeared to be a check on the ground,” his report said.
“I inspected it and found it to be a money order. The money order was apparently made out for a rent payment ….”

The officer found the owner, verified the money order was his and gave it back to him.

Disorderly conduct

Police were sent to the Motel 6 shortly after 8 p.m. Oct. 2 in response to someone calling 911 and then hanging up. When they got there, they found a man and an irate – and drunk – woman, according to the report.

As the man tried to explain to police what was going on, “(the woman) was in the background yelling obscenities and calling (the man) a (expletive).”

The officer warned the woman to stop talking and noticed her eyes were bloodshot and her speech was “slightly slurred,” the report said.

She also didn’t take the hint.

“As (the man) began to speak again (the woman) began to yell and shout obscenities towards (the man),” the report continued, noting the officer left the woman alone in the room and took the man outside to talk.

“While speaking with (the man), (the woman) continued her ranting and raving at which time I told (her) to exit the room and sit on the sidewalk and to not say another word until I was finished with the (man),” the report said.

That didn’t take, either.

“It wasn’t three seconds later when (the woman) began to yell obscenities again at (the man) at which time I placed her under arrest checking handcuffs for proper fit and double locked,” the officer reported.

That apparently had an impact.

“(The woman) began to cry and stated she was ready to calm down at this time to which I advised her it was too late,” the officer reported. The woman was arrested and taken to jail, where she was cited and given a court date.

Property damage

An RHPD officer was dispatched to Richmond Hill High School around 8 p.m. Thursday “in reference to a vehicle that struck an open gate,” a report said.

The officer met with the woman who hit the gate. She said she was driving through the school parking lot when she hit the gate, which was supposed to be shut and was hard to see because it “was raining and the gate was black.”

The officer noted the gate was indeed black and also had no reflectors.

The gate had been opened by an employee, who said “he was running late so he opened the gate then parked his vehicle,” the report said. “(The man) stated he was on his way to close the gate and that’s when (the woman’s) vehicle struck the gate.”

Both folks got a case number and were told how to get a copy of the report.