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Former hoops star faces prison
Ex Blue Tide player convicted of burglaries
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Eli Guest talks to a reporter about his life. He is in jail in Long County, awaiting transfer to a state prison after pleading guilty to robbery. - photo by Photo by Mike Riddle

Former Long County Blue Tide basketball standout Eli Guest said his life changed Dec. 7, 2010, but not in a good way.
On that night, Guest, now 21, was at home with a high-school friend watching a football game when another friend called and invited them to go out in search of girls.
“They call me up and they were like, ‘Aww, man, let’s go see some girls.’ So my intentions were, we were going to go see some females. But when I get over there, you know what I’m saying, they were like, ‘Man, let’s hit a house. Let’s hit a house,’” Guest said.
So instead of looking for girls, Guest, his friend and three other former classmates broke into a house.  The Arnold Drive residence they targeted belonged to a couple and their four young children. The break-in happened at around 1 a.m. as the mother and children were sleeping. The father still was up doing laundry.
Guest said members of the group simultaneously kicked in doors and came through multiple entry points in the house. Two men held the family at gunpoint in the living room as Guest and two others went from room to room in search of items to steal. He said they took a large, flat-screen TV and put some smaller things in a pillow case.  
However, the five intruders didn’t count on being seen by a neighbor as they loaded the stolen items into the vehicle that Guest was driving. The neighbor watched them load the car, called 911 and told the dispatcher what he had seen. The caller described the vehicle and told the dispatcher what direction it was traveling in.
As Guest and the four other men drove down Arnold Drive, authorities from the Long County Sheriff’s Office and the Ludowici Police Department chased them. The chase concluded when Guest lost control of his mother’s car on Sharpe Road. When the car came to a stop, Guest and three others fled on foot. Authorities detained the alleged leader of the group, but only after he tried to grab an officer’s gun, scuffled with the officer and accidentally was shot in the leg.
Later that day, Guest and two others — also former members of the Blue Tide basketball team — turned themselves in. The fourth suspect, who had fled the scene, also eventually was arrested.
Guest recently pleaded guilty to the charges he faced in connection with the case and also to a break-in that occurred before the Dec. 7, 2010, incident. On counts of non-violent burglary and robbery, he was sentenced to 18 years — 10 to serve in prison and eight on probation.
Guest said he now realizes that his life was good before the break-ins. He had been a star athlete at Long County High School and had earned a scholarship to Mississippi Delta Community College. He was a popular student who earned a senior superlative. Guest said he had a supportive mother and father and many friends in his hometown of Ludowici. He regrets letting others pressure him into making bad choices.
“I let them influence me into doing things that I knew I shouldn’t,” Guest said. “My decision scarred me for the rest of my life, or at least until I’m 39. It’s not worth it. Be all you can be. A lot of the friends who claim to be your friends — they’re not. Some may be loyal, but at the end of it all, the ones who will be there for you faithfully is your family.”
Guest acknowledges his mistakes and said he is sorry for hurting the families he robbed and for the pain he has caused his family.
“To the families, I apologize. I mean, I am sorry. I’m so sorry that it happened to them. And to my family, I’m sorry that I put them through so much hurt,” he said.
Guest said he plans to serve his time and return to Long County, where he’d like to open a barbershop. He said he hopes others will learn from his mistakes.
“My prayer is that for every young or old person that reads this article, I hope some life gets touched. I pray that I save a life or a career. God bless you all,” Guest said.


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HPD Reports
crime scene

From Hinesville Police Department reports. Editor’s note: Due to computer issues at the city, reports have been unavailable in recent weeks. They are back. Our thanks to the HPD clerks who provide them. We’re catching up as quickly as possible.

Burglary, etc: A man called 911 on Feb. 27 because he was watching his White Circle home getting burglarized. The man said his alarm system had an app that showed live video on his phone, and he was “viewing three males inside his residence,” as he talked to 911.
Police responded, caught two of them inside the house and found the third guy “hiding behind a tree,” the report said.
Detectives are investigating.

Public indecency: An officer was sent to Lowes around 4:30 p.m. March 12 in reference to a disturbance involving a man and a woman.
The woman, a Lowe’s employee, said she had just got back from her lunch break when she saw the man “looking around at items on a shelf.”
The woman said she asked him if he needed help finding anything and he held up something, then said “I have found everything I need,” the report said. “(he) then placed his arms around (the employee) to hug her and then kissed (her) neck. (She) then moved away from (him) and told him to have a nice day and attempted to walk away from (the man). (He) then began to follow (her), stating ‘I would lick you up and down’ and ‘you better hide in an office.’ (She) then spoke with manager and called 911.’”
The man told police he thought he recognized the woman “and stated to me that he had previously had a relationship with her approximately two years ago. (He) was unable to recall (her) name while on scene.”
The woman told police “she has never seen, nor spoken to (the man) before today.”
The woman was given a case number and told what to do. The man was allowed to leave.

Indecent exposure: A Berkshire Terrace man reported he went outside his house around 6:40 a.m. and “observed a man who appeared to be intoxicated, peeing on his truck and trailer.”
The complainant said the man “fully exposed his penis while he was peeing. When (complainant) asked him to stop the man told him to ‘shut the (bleep) up.’ (Complainant) advised the man he would call police. (Complainant) advised his young son was standing outside during the incident. He said the man got into a 1996 black Buick and drove away, almost hitting cars that were parked in the driveway.”
The complainant said he did not want to press charges, “he said he wanted to report the incident because the man did not stop peeing when he asked him too.”
The complainant said he’d seen the man before “come and go” from a nearby apartment. The officer met with the resident of that apartment, who said the man was a cousin and did not pee on the complainant’s trailer.

Identity theft: A man went to HPD on March 21 to report that when he went to get a driver’s history for a commercial driver’s license, he found several citations on the history that weren’t his. “(He) stated he noticed someone was issued four citations in Arkansas and one citation in Jacksonville, Florida,” and during the time the Arkansas tickets were written he was in locked up in Georgia.
“(He) advised that he was not incarcerated when the citation in Jacksonville, Florida was issued but he was not in Florida at the time. (He) was unable to leave the state of Georgia due to being on felony probation.”
It gets worse.
“(He) told me that he attempted to file his income taxes for the first time ever and he was rejected due to owing the IRS money, $20,000. (He) stated he spoke to a representative for the IRS and he was informed that taxes were filed in his name in 2014 and the return was $1,3000. (He) advised he did not file taxes in 2013 and he was still incarcerated at the time.”
The man then told the officer he thinks his brother “got the citations and filed income taxes using his information. (He) believed his brother obtained his Social Security number and other demographics when he was incarcerated.”
The man said he talked to his brother, who said he paid all the tickets. “(His) brother also told him on a different occasion that he knew his date of birth and (SSN). (He) advised he told his brother that it was not OK to use his name due to him getting his life together and attempting to drive commercial vehicles.”
The guy said he didn’t have his brother’s address. He chose to fill out an identity theft packet.

Simple battery, theft by taking: An officer was sent around 2 a.m. March 20 to the Baymont Inn regarding a disturbance. There, a woman said she was being “grabbed and pulled” by a man when she told him to leave her motel room. She said they began arguing when he accused her of stealing $100.
The man claimed he met the woman on a dating website and when they “started having sex she informed him that it would cost $100.” He told her he wasn’t going to pay her, “got dressed and realized the five $20s in his pants pocket were missing. He accused (her) of stealing his money.”
The officer asked the woman if she stole the man’s money and she replied, “No, I work hard for my money.”
Both were given a case number and told how to get a warrant.

Robbery: A woman called HPD March 15 to report she was home when her estranged husband came to her apartment “and asked her to come outside to talk to him,” a report said.
“She stated that she stepped outside thinking that he was going to be civil, though she recently filed for divorce from him. As she stepped outside, he grabbed her necklace off her neck and then ran down the stairwell and out to the parking lot.”
The woman said he stood by his vehicle a minute, then drove off as police arrived. Officers checked the area but had no luck finding the man.

Burglary: Police were sent to a Malibu Drive address on March 13 regarding missing firearms and ransacked rooms. The homeowners were at work and got home to find handguns and rifles missing, as well as video games.
It appeared the home may have been broken into through the attic. Police found footprints and other evidence, and the case is under investigation.

Recovered stolen trailer: A U-Haul employee was inventorying equipment on March 14 when she discovered a trailer that had been reported stolen in Florida on Dec. 26. “She stated someone had backed the trailer into a parking stall along with the other trailers sometime during the night.”

Theft: In February, the maintenance man at Cypress Bend Mobile Home Park reported that “22 air conditioning unit disconnect boxes were stolen from various lots… He stated he began receiving calls from people that their air conditioning units were not working.”
The boxes contain small pieces of copper. He didn’t know who swiped them, but valued the total at about $341.

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