From Bryan County Sheriff’s Department reports:

Criminal trespass – An Ellabell woman called BCSD on Nov. 16 to report her daughter assaulted her pickup with a board after a dispute over money.

The woman said the problem started Nov. 13 when her daughter “walked into her bedroom, while she was sleeping, and gave her $500,” claiming to have won it in playing the lottery.

The woman said she spent the $500 by Nov. 14, and on Nov. 15 her daughter “began calling and texting her … demanding her $500 back.”  The woman said her daughter came to her house Nov. 16 and “when (the daughter) did not get the $500.00, she left the house and began striking (the mother’s pickup) …. With a wooden board, damaging the front passenger window,” the report said, and the deputy noted a small dent but also noted he didn’t see “the suspect damage the vehicle.” He wrote the report to document the incident and explained warrant issues to the complainant.

Property damage – A deputy recently escorted the owner of a Montauk Drive home to the house to serve a writ of possession. When the two got there, the place was a mess. “Upon entering the residence I could smell something that appeared to be dead,” the deputy reported. “Myself and (the owner) noticed dog feces all over the floor in several rooms. In the living room area were pieces of trash and parts that appeared to be a couch cushion that had been ripped to shreds by this dog. The living room area was in complete disarray.”

It got worse. “As we walked into the kitchen the smell intensified and it was then that I asked (the owner) if the power to the home had been disconnected.”

It had. The refrigerator and freezers were full of rotting food, while a dog had been given the run of the house and there was feces and urine everywhere.

“The home was knowingly left in an awful state by the tenant, probably one of the worst cases I have experienced as of yet while executing writs,” the deputy reported. He told the owner to document everything with photos and video and keep a list of receipts to repairs.

Missing person – A man and woman went to the Sheriff’s Department on Nov. 17 to report their 40 something year old niece hadn’t been seen  since the previous Thursday “and that no other family had seen her either.”

They were worried the woman, who “has medical issues,” may “have had a seizure and passed away inside the home.”

The deputy asked if their niece had any friends and were told she “had a new boyfriend that she started seeing a few months ago.” The deputy then followed the couple to their niece’s house on Eldora Road, and no one was home. So they then went to the niece’s boyfriend’s house in Effingham County and, sure enough, there she was. She told her aunt and uncle “she was ok and that she would be staying (at her boyfriend’s house) for a while.”

Disorderly house, more – A Pembroke couple was arrested Nov. 19 after deputies were sent to their Highway 280 home “in reference to a domestic dispute in which a woman was trying to burn the house down.”

The deputy who wrote the report noted the house was filled with thick smoke from “a shirt or sweater smoldering on the bare wooden floor. I also observed that there was broken furniture and food items laying on the floor of the home as well as intact furniture that was overturned.”

So the deputy spoke with the man, who said the woman – apparently his wife – “had set a sweater on fire during the course of an argument.”

The woman said something else. She claimed the man “had set the sweater on fire when she asked him for it back. She also stated that Carlos Bacon had pushed her head into a mirror. I did not observ e any visible red marks injury to (the woman).”
She said she didn’t want EMS and only wanted to leave once her ride got there to pick her up.

The deputy then spoke to the man again, and he repeated his claim the woman set the sweater on fire. “While speaking to (the man) it as evident that he was extremely high on medication. His speech was slurred and his motor skills were extremely impaired and slow.”

And, this was evidently not the first time deputies had been out to the house. “Due to the conflicting stories, the continuous call for service at the residence, the continued substance abuse at the residence, and the continued disturbances in the residence, all of the actors were placed under arrest and charged with maintaining a disorderly house.”

The burning sweater was put out and the man and woman handcuffed and taken to jail. The man asked if he could bring his meds because of his “advanced age and poor health” and was allowed to do so, and as the man was booked it was discovered he’d put hydrocodone, carisoprodol and alprazolam into a bottle labeled acetaminophen. Those drugs were confiscated until the man could prove he had a prescription for them.

One more thing.

“During the booking process, (a deputy) wished to verify that the smoldering sweater had not reignited,” the report said. “(The deputy) asked (the man) for permission to return to the residence and  verify that the fire was indeed out. (The man) gave his consent for (the deputy) to enter the residence and ensure that the fire was out.”

It wasn’t. “(The deputy) returned to the residence and found that the sweater had reignited. He then took the sweater outside and doused it with water.”

Criminal trespass – From a  Nov. 12 report comes this weird tale. A man told BCSD someone occasionally comes onto his property on Oak Point Drive at night. “He stated the individual will tap on the windows of his residence and then run off.”

But that’s not all. “(The man) also believes someone has been sleepling in his camper. He keeps the camper at his residence. He stated he was keeping the cmaper unlocked until now.”

The man said nothing was missing but some items in the camper had been movced around. The man also said his son had “on one occasion observed a whilte male individual at the privacy fence near his residence. He stated this individual was ringing his cow bell which is located near his fence. He stated this subject left the area without in cident.”

The man showed up again on the day of the report, and was described as being 5foot-9 to 5-foot-10 and 180-190 pounds with short brown hair. He was wearing a burgundy sweatshirt with white lettering and carrying a backpack “with socks tied to it.”

Criminal trespass – An Ellabell woman reported Nov. 14 her in-laws “locked her out of her home by screwing the door shut so she can’t get in her residence.”

The door was screwed shut with hex screws. the report said. The woman said her mother-in-law and brother-in-law “placed the screws in when she wasn’t home and this is the second time they did this to her residence.