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Hinesville Police blotter for March 18
Shirt on space heater starts home fire
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March 7: An ATM customer in Hinesville recovered and returned $500 to a previous customer who had driven off without the money. The customer who discovered the money called police, who later witnessed the money’s owner return to retrieve her funds.

March 9
• A Hinesville woman reported her rental car stolen after the friend she lent the car to did not return it by its due date. The woman told police she lent the car to a female soldier who was chaptering out of the Army. Police left messages for the soldier, whose home address is listed in Alabama.

March 11
• Police cited a Hinesville man with possession of marijuana after they conducted a routine traffic stop on Pineland Avenue. The officer spotted a passenger not wearing his seat belt, and during the stop the officer noted the driver and passenger had red, glassy eyes and requested a K-9 inspection.
The K-9 detected the presence of a narcotic and after a search of the vehicle and passengers, officers recovered a half-inch cigarette in the vehicle filled with what appeared to be marijuana, as well as a glass pipe containing a small amount of what appeared to be burnt marijuana in the driver’s pocket. The driver was cited for possession of less than one ounce and released on bond.

• Residents of a home on Fleming Road reported missing jewelry and entertainment equipment totalling more than $10,000 in an alleged burglary that occurred sometime between March 9 and March 11.

• A purse left behind at a Hinesville auto parts store was found to contain several identification and credit cards belonging to different people, as well as foreign currency. Police attempted to contact the owner of the purse but received no response.

March 12
• Authorities responded to an apartment fire at Liberty Manor Court. The resident said he smelled smoke and entered his bathroom to find a fan had fallen onto the toilet and was in flames. The resident said the fire was extinguished before he called 911.

• A Hinesville woman called 911 after smelling marijuana in her apartment and requested officer presence while she moved out, because she feared her roommate would retaliate against her for calling police. When the officer arrived on scene he detected an odor and was told by another resident of the apartment, a Fort Stewart soldier, that her guests had been smoking “spice” but the guests were gone. The resident said the guests were in her unit but that she did not know their names.

• Police recovered what appeared to be a small amount of marijuana at the carnival grounds set up on E.G. Miles Parkway. A carnival worker discovered the material in a clear plastic bag on the grounds.

• Emergency workers responded to an early-morning house fire on Sagewood Drive. The occupants already had exited the house when authorities arrived, and flames were seen coming from the back of the house. The residents reported their son had thrown a shirt on a space heater in his bedroom and when he saw it began to smoke, he threw it in the closet and left the room.

• An officer found a man on Highway 196 who claimed he was from Louisiana and was trying to return to the state. A search of his personal property turned up a medical information card and several phone numbers. A call placed to a number revealed the man suffers from Alzheimer’s and lives in the region. His wife answered the call and told the officer they had been actively looking for her husband at the time.

• A Brantley Drive resident reported several items missing after her home reportedly was burglarized. Among the items missing were office and entertainment equipment and household goods. Responding officers spoke with neighbors and found one who reported seeing a heavyset African-American woman wearing a wig knocking on doors in the neighborhood around the estimated time of the burglary.

March 14
• A home on Brett Drive reportedly was burglarized without signs of forced entry. The residents reported several entertainment and gaming items missing, and they also told officers a friend had notified them of possible suspects in the area. Detectives followed up on the tip.

March 15
• A Hinesville woman reportedly lost $16,400 to an online auto sales scam using Habitat For Humanity and autotrader.com. The woman said she saw an ad on the auto sales website for a car and was then directed to a site with the nonprofit’s name and the car listed as a donation. After exchanging e-mails with the seller, the woman wired money to a business listed as Trusted Auto Deals in New York state, but she never received the car. A Habitat representative told officers the scam is noted on its legitimate site.

• School officials at Joseph Martin Elementary school reported a student brought a pellet gun on campus. Officials declined to bring charges and said the school will bring disciplinary action instead.

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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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