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Soldier finds home burglarized after deployment
Hinesville Police Blotter Dec. 16-20
crimescenetape

Recent reports filed with the Hinesville Police Department include:

Dec. 20
Deposit account fraud, fourth degree forgery — An officer met the complainant at HPD. She complained that her boyfriend was moving money from one of her bank accounts into a joint bank account without her permission. She said he would spend the money, causing her single account, which was linked to the joint account, to overdraft. She has since closed the single account. She also suspects her now former boyfriend forged four checks with her name at another bank. The officer told her how to get information about the report, which was forwarded to detectives, and to provide more evidence to them.

Dec. 19
Shoplifting — An officer was on a “walk and talk” patrol in Wal-Mart when a loss prevention officer told him he had detained a couple who had checked out at a self-service register. The couple reportedly had their 14-year-old daughter with them. The store employee said he believes they stole nearly $75 worth of merchandise by simply not scanning it. They did scan some items. The man and woman were taken to jail, processed and bonded out. The teen was given a ride home by a family friend, who had been called.

Dec. 18
Computer trespass, attempted theft by deception — A woman went to HPD to report that her computer had crashed and then she received a call, saying if she sent $499 to a given address her computer would be fixed. She reasoned the caller had caused her computer crash. The officer advised her to contact her Internet provider for assistance with her machine.

Dec. 17
Burglary, stolen vehicle — A soldier, returning home from a three-month deployment, found that his car had been stolen and home burglarized. A window on a side door was smashed and the door knob on the ground. The soldier told the officer that two tablets, an Acer and Samsung, an HP laptop, a Playstation 4 and four games and two TVs were missing from inside. He said his car was a 2013 Dodge Journey. There had been two bank cards in the car and he noticed problems the last week of November when charges started showing up on the cards here and in Savannah and Tybee Island. But he felt he couldn’t do anything about it. The officer turned the information over to detectives and told the soldier how to get information for insurance claims.

Theft by taking — Another soldier’s story didn’t seem as convincing. An officer was called to a Desert Storm address about 9:45 a.m. The resident said he returned from a short deployment to find six pairs of his Nike Air Jordans missing. The officer asked if this was a follow up to an earlier incident when the soldier reported a similar crime. “He thought for a short time and then recalled the incident, and advised me that for a second time someone stole his shoes.” The officer questioned how he had bought so many shoes and why there was no sign of forced entry. The soldier was able to show a photograph of “multiple shoes lined up.” The officer gave the soldier a case number.

Burglary, criminal trespass — A Mandarin Drive resident called police when she arrived home and her alarm system alerted her that someone may be in her home as she entered. Upon investigation, the officer found that someone had thrown a cinder block through a bedroom window and apparently entered, but turned around and left quickly. There were footprints on the bed that implied that. The officer speculated that a motion sensor had scared the intruder off.

Dec. 16
Simple battery — Police were unable to determine who the aggressor was after being called to the Highway 84 McDonald’s about 9:30 p.m., but did see evidence that a woman had pulled a couple braids of hair out of a man’s head. The woman said she suspected her boyfriend had been seeing other women. So she grabbed his phone, got out of their car and went inside. After spotting a couple texts to another woman she went back outside to confront her boyfriend. She said she threw the phone at him and that he got out of the car and started punching her. He said she threw the phone at him and then stared grabbing his hair and punching him while he was still in the car. Officers didn’t know who was telling the truth. They did, however, see the hair on the ground.

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