Recent crime reports filed with the Hinesville Police Department include:

April 15

Attempted theft by deception — A Hinesville woman called police after she had been told she had gotten a job over email and online interviews, but became suspicious during preparations. She said she was offered more than $30 an hour to be an administrative assistant for a corporation. She received a check for just under $5,000, told to deposit it, use the money buy a certain laptop computer and email the deposit slip to a certain address. She then called the corporation and was told its human relations department did not operate as she described. She was told the corporation knew of a similar scam two years ago.

Attempted theft by deception — A Pleasant Street resident called police to complain about a phone calls he had received after apparently having communications with sexual content with a female who claimed at times to be between 16 and 18 years old. The "teen" even sent pornographic sexting messages. The resident said he had never sent sexts to the female, but the text messages showed he had discussed sexual matter with the female, who claimed to be on Hilton Head. The calls questioned why he was talking to the "teen," but no demands were mentioned. The officer conducted a reverse look-up of the number, which turned out to be in Delaware. The incident was turned over to detectives.

Attempted theft by deception — In a similar report, an Oglethorpe Highway man said he had been communicating with a girl he met on an unspecified social media site. He said he assumed she was 18 because that was on her profile. But he received a call from the girl’s "mother," saying the girl was in the hospital and needed help with medical bills. He sent $50, but she requested $1,800 more and threatened to press charges because her daughter was underage. Later, the man said, an "FBI agent" called him and said the mother had signed a waiver that no charges would be filed if he paid the medical bills. The report was turned over to detectives.

April 14

Forgery of documents — The mother of a teen being processed into the Department of Juvenile Justice apparently tried to pass a bad birth certificate, insurance card and Social Security card off as belonging to the child. The DJJ employee said he became suspicious when reading the documents, that they did not match and were copies with odd changes, when he asked for originals. The officer agreed and saw a copy of the child’s birth certificate from Liberty County High School, and it did not match the one submitted to DJJ. There was no indication of motive, nor what was done with the mother.

Suspicious acts — About 10:30 a.m., a Brantley Drive woman told a responding officer she had received a call from a woman, whom the woman thought was a friend. The "friend" said she had been kidnapped and needed help. A man came on the line and demanded $1,000 if the woman valued her friend’s life. The woman said she was poor and did not have the money. The man hung up. After taking the report, the officer was able to contact the alleged kidnap victim, who said she was in Savannah with her children and that she was fine. The officer contacted the first woman again and told her he believed someone was trying to extort money. Before he completed his report, the officer learned another officer had two similar reports of similar extortion.

April 1

Littering, vehicle search — An officer driving west on Highway 84 actually stopped someone for littering. He reported he saw what he thought was a lit cigarette thrown from a pickup, so he pulled it over. The driver said he was throwing out only the tobacco from a smoked cigarette and showed a filter with a little empty paper on an end of it. However because of the strong air freshener smell and how nervous the driver seemed, the officer called in a drug dog, which alerted on the passenger side door. A search yielded no drugs. The driver, who said he has a neighbor who "religiously" smokes pot and sometimes rides in the truck, was allowed to leave with a warning.