Recent reports filed with the Hinesville Police Department include:

July 7
Simple battery, criminal trespass — A Rebecca Street family called police because of a fight over money. Both the mother and son were listed as victims and complainants. The report says the mother complained about her son and daughter-in-law living with her for eight months without paying any bills. She asked him to pay the electric bill. The argument got heated, and the mother said she pushed her son to get him to back up and that he punched her in the face. She turned down medical help, and officers said they could not see any injuries. The son said the argument never got physical. Both said the mother got a knife and stabbed tires on the son’s car. Another man at the scene said he was working under the car and heard the argument, but did not know if the son punched the mother.

Arrest for other agency — A woman was arrested after she asked HPD to run a background check on her. The report said she came in for the check for “Homeless Prevention” and that the check uncovered an arrest warrant out of Long County for probation violation. She was taken into custody and turned over to Long County.

Theft by deception — Just before 4 p.m., a businesswoman whose shop is in the 400 block of Gen. Screven Way reported a theft. She said she had gone to a doctor’s appointment about 11 a.m., leaving an employee in charge of the store. During the appointment, the employee called her boss to say she was quitting. The boss asked her to stay until the appointment was over. But when the boss got back, the employee was gone, the door was unlocked and $170 worth of merchandise was missing. The boss was unsure if the employee took the goods or if someone came in after the door was left unlocked. The officer noted that the employee, who could not be contacted, had clocked out at 3.

Forgery, theft by deception, bad/worthless checks — Officers were called to Ameris Bank after a teller refused to cash a check that she suspected was either stolen or fraudulent. She reported it to her bank manager, who remembered receiving notice from another branch of the bank, saying the woman whose account the check was written from had not received new checks when the bank recently changed ownership. The police report notes it is unclear what happened to the checks, except that they are believed to be in the possession of a man whose cousin had reported to the bank that his relative was passing fraudulent checks. The cousin said he relative claimed to have done some jobs for the account holder, and the cousin agreed to cash some of the checks to help his relative out because he didn’t have a bank account. The cousin is not the man who tried to cash the check. Both the officers and bank employees said they would contact the account owner.

July 8
Suspicious activity — A Hinesville woman went to HPD to report that she had been offered a job cleaning a home in Flemington. She found it on Facebook and was offered $200 a week and was told she’d get $100 for cleaning supplies. Several days later, she received a text from her new employer saying she’d get a $3,200 check and that she was to deposit it and take $300 for her pay and supplies. Earlier on July 8, she received an envelope with the $3,200 check, but it was from a Texas man not mentioned in earlier messages, drawn on a California bank. She was suspicious and took to the police. The reporting officer said the check looked fraudulent because of incomplete addresses and no watermark.