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RHPD reports: Man scares off would-be renters with tales of haunted house
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From Richmond Hill Police Department reports:

 Matter of record: A woman who works for a rental property management company went to RHPD Sept. 1 to report that a man who lives next door to a property “did approach a couple looking to rent stating the house is haunted and his parents had recently expired inside the home,” a report said. “After receiving that information (from the man), the complainant stated the couple did not want to rent the home anymore and informed her of why the decision was made.

The complainant advised this is an ongoing issue with (the man) and would like it to stop.”

The officer got in touch with the man and told him why, and “(the man) did state, ‘Sir, I am not telling a lie, both my parents had expired inside this residence.’” The officer then told the man of “the complainants concerns of volunteering negative information to every prospect that come to view the residence.” He apologized “and stated he will not do it again.”

The officer also reported back to the complainant, “and she appeared very satisfied with the end result.” 

DUI: An officer on Highway 17 near I-95 around 10:44 p.m. “observed a motorcycle operator traveling north on the southbound on-ramp to the interstate against traffic. The operator approached the intersection where he felt to the ground with his motorcycle. The operator then picked up his motorcycle and proceeded north on (Highway 17) against a red light at which time I initiated a traffic stop.”

The man, who had a Midway address, had just left one bar and was heading to another, he told the officer. The Georgia State Patrol took over the investigation and charged the man with DUI. He was taken to jail.

Matter of record: Police were called around 12:30 p.m. when a man diagnosed with dementia went missing Aug. 30 from a local nursing home. The man, who was last seen around 10 a.m., had reportedly said he was going to go work on his truck, even though workers at the home were unaware of him having one. A “be on the lookout” was put out for the man, who was found with a close friend around 3 p.m. at an auto parts store. The man didn’t want to go back to the home, and the officer said without some sort of legal paperwork requiring him to go there he was free to do what he wanted, so a nursing home representative said she’d call family members and explain the situation.

Driving without a license: An officer pulled over a van around 5:30 p.m. Aug. 30 because it traveled in the center lane on 144 for several hundred yards before turning left onto Cedar Street. The driver showed the officer an insurance card but said he didn’t have a license. “(He) advised me that he actually had a previous license through Florida which was suspended as well as a Georgia license which was also suspended.”

A check of records showed the man had his Georgia license suspended in 2004, 2005, 2015 and 2016. He’d also had his Florida license suspended in Miami, though there was not date available for that one. The man was arrested and released to appear in court due to COVID-19 protocol at Bryan County Jail, and a family member came to pick him and the van up.

Matter of record: Police were sent to a fast food restaurant on Highway 17 around 5:40 p.m. Aug. 31 where a 17-year-old employee said he was told by his manager to make a report. The teen, a Black kid, said he was working the drive through when a White couple “came through the drive thru irritated,” the report said. “(The teen) asked them if there as anything he could to do help them and the White female continued to be upset and ask where the foam cups had gone. (He) advised her the company makes those decisions.”

The report continued: “The White female then went to leave the parking lot but turned back and parked in the handicapped parking spot to come inside and yell at him some more, due to her drink being a Coke instead of a sweet tea. (The teen) stated it was no problem and went and made her a sweet tea. The White female told him here is your Coke and tried to hand it back to him. (He) told the female he was not allowed to take it back due to the COVID safety measures, but the female continued to try and hand it back to him to the point of walking in between the counters where customers are not allowed.”

The kid said it then got racial, with the woman yelling slurs at him until “he snapped and walked to the couple’s vehicle and thr4ew the coke at their vehicle. The female got back out of her vehicle and threw the sweet tea back at him hitting the front door of the restaurant.

The couple then came back inside the restaurant and began yelling and cussing at (the teen) in his face, causing the on duty manager to get in between them and getting the couple to step back outside the front doors.”

The teen said the couple called police, “but they ended up stating they did not want a police report and left.” The teen said he was told to file the report “due to the couple having contacted (the restaurant chain) stating they were going to sue them and (the teen.)” The kid got a case number.

Matter of record: On Sept. 3, police were sent to another Highway 17 fast food restaurant regarding threats made against an employee.

There, the employee “and several others advised there was a subject inside the establishment that had acted extremely irrational. He was upset due to (the restaurant) not having spicy tenders and not being given the exact change back. Prior to the subject leaving, he told everyone they had no idea who they were dealing with. As he was leaving, he stated he was going to (bleep) everyone up.”

The man was Black and about 6-feet tall with a stocky build, witnesses said. They said they’d never seen the man before.

The employee got a case number.

Burglary: Representatives of Richmond Hill High School reported Aug. 31 the “concession stand at the football field may have been broken into.” A volunteer and an assistant principal told RHPD that about $50 to $80 worth of “skittles, sodas and ice pops missing from inside the building.”

The burglars had also broken into a cage where propane tanks had been stored and removed two tanks, but they had not been taken. “The door to the building was damaged. It appeared that the handle was hit with something causing it to dent in and there were pry marks on the door as well as the metal cover that covered the strike plate area,” the report said.

Police looked for clues but found none. A report was made.

Matter of record: A woman reported Sept. 4 that someone broke into her apartment. The woman said it keeps happening when she’s out, and this time she “saw a piece of luggage out of place. (She) stated the luggage is usually concealed from sight and you wouldn’t know it was there unless you really looked for it,” and that “some jewelry, White Diamond body lotion and two yellow in color pyramid sculptures from Egypt” were missing. She also said her suitcases were unlocked. The woman said the camera system she installed in her apartment wasn’t catching the thieves “due to them using a jammer to block the signals.” The officer couldn’t find any sign of forced entry, and noticed a number of things usually stolen during a breakin “which had not been touched.” “She also advised they (the people jamming her cameras) have been using her wifi to hack her stuff, so she has wrapped metal tape across the top of her wifi to keep them from using it. (She) also explained she has spoken to the landlord about the situation multiple times and has had her locks changed three times.

(The woman) stated this time the landlord told her there was no one breaking into her house and that it was all in her head. Management advised her she could move out if there was still an issue.” The officer gave the woman a case number “and advised her that her residence was still under extra patrol.”

 Matter of record: An officer was sent with the Richmond Hill Fire Department to a Sept. 3 fire alarm at Kroger showing “water flow on left sprinkler with an unidentified fire alarm,” and found a sprinkler head near the pharmacy with “water spewing out of it, along with some roofing that appeared warped under the awning of the drive-thru,” the report said.

The store was getting its parking lot repaved, and a milling machine parked near the sprinkler caused the issue, according to a supervisor of the company doing the work. “When they turned the machine on, the exhaust from the machine caused the temperature on the sprinkler to spike, causing it to burst.”

Everybody got a case number.

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