Recent reports from the Hinesville Police Department include:
Forgery and then some: About 4 p.m. June 22 an officer met with a pizza delivery driver at HPD. The driver reported receiving fake bills as payment for an earlier delivery. The officer took the bills as evidence and saw they had “what appeared to be Japanese comic book markings.”
While writing the report the next day two other officers were dispatched to the apartment where the driver said she received the fake bills. The first officer went along. There a woman said she had found fake money and a Sony Playstation 4 in her son’s room. She said her son had ordered pizza the day before and later told her that the delivery person had given him the console. Her son was not home and officers did not find him immediately. The first officer said the second set of fake bills were different than the first. They had “for motion picture use only” written on them.
Theft by deception: A woman approached officers walking in Harbor Rain Apartments to report she had earlier received call from a man with an accent “possibly Indian,” telling her “her Social Security number was being held/blocked and she would be unable to use it unless she paid fees.” She ended up buying two Google Play cards for $450 and giving the caller the numbers so he could get the money. The caller later told her her SS number was again clear. But, in a later call, he said $890 was to be deposited in her checking account. She told the man she didn’t want any money, but later saw that a $200 “escan” deposit had been made. She did not know how the scammer got her banking information, nor even if he really even knew her SS number. The officers told her to contact her bank about the fraud attempt, that her SS account could not be held and to contact police if there was any further contact.
Illegal use of a credit card: Three reports came in the morning of June 24 about fraud or attempted fraud from lodgers at a local motel. The stories were all similar: The guests had checked in, given the night clerk information about their credit cards and then saw transactions or attempted transactions (one credit card company had rejected them) with a sporting goods company on their card accounts. The completed transactions totaled about $1,100. The attempted purchases totaled nearly $1,200.
The motel owner told police, and the customers, the clerk should not have asked for the card information, that cards are supposed to be inserted or swiped in a reader. The owner provided information about the clerk, who was not there. She was not listed as a suspect “until more evidence can be found.”
Found property: Some reports just make you feel good. On June 17 an officer was sent to Firehouse Subs, where a manager gave the officer a leather wallet that contained $100 cash and various paperwork that apparently owned by a Florida resident. The officer called the owner who said he’d have one of his relatives pick up the wallet from HPD’s property department.
Simple batter, shoplifting: Other reports, not so much. Just before 5 p.m. June 19 an officer was sent to Lee’s Beauty Supply, where the owner became suspicious of a customer. It was suspected she had stuffed three wigs into a backpack. When she was confronted, she became argumentative and started to leave as the owner called police.
“When (suspect) approached the door she pushed (two employees) out of her way.” In the scuffle, the owner’s iPhone was knocked out of her hand and the suspect’s backpack was torn. She left it and two ID’s were found inside. So police have a possible name of the thief, but the report said she was not located.
Shoplifting: Some reports are just sad. About 2 p.m. June 20 a loss prevention officer at the Walmart Super Center reported he saw a man in the grocery section with fireworks stuffed down his pants. The man was taken to an office and told the employee he planned to steal the fireworks to resell on the street to get money to eat. All told $20 worth of fireworks were found on the thief, who was taken to HPD, had bond set at $812 and given a court date. He was taken to jail, where he was probably fed at the next meal time.
Attempted forced burglary: An officer was sent to a Clay Street residence about 1 a.m. June 21 when the resident reported someone battering down his front door. He said he had been watching TV when he heard something on his front porch, he looked out and saw two men, one in his yard and another, who may have been carrying a gun, on the porch. He yelled, threatening to call 911, and ran out the back door as he heard a crash at the front. He speculated the front door was kicked in and said when he looked again, the men were running away. The officer confirmed damage to the door, saying pieces of wood from the jamb were scattered around.
Shots fired: Just after 4 p.m. June 19, an officer went to the 400 block of Elm Street, where a resident had found a bullet in his patio. It was partially lodged in some decking and appeared to be at least a month old. The officer took the bullet to place in the evidence locker.
Fraud: An officer met two people at HPD on June 22 and heard they had applied for a $3,200 loan with an online loan company the day before. They received $4,800 in their account and were then asked in a phone call to send back $1,900. They had the money wired back and later checked their account to see if it had worked, but learned their account had been locked because of possible fraudulent activity. “They were able to determine that (caller) was an inmate in the Dakota County Detention Center (phone number).” And an employee at the center said the inmate had tried to cash two checks, but had been refused because the checks appeared to be altered. They told the officer they tried to find the online loan company again, but couldn’t.