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Teens family reacts to court case
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The case background

Pvt. Michael Burnett pleaded guilty Aug. 27 to two counts of voluntary manslaughter in exchange for his testimony against three other men charged in the crime. Pvt. Isaac Aguigui, Pvt. Christopher Salmon and Sgt. Anthony Peden each face 13 counts including malice murder, felony murder and illegal gang activity in slayings. Salmon’s wife, Heather Salmon, also has been charged with murder.

As the prosecution mounts allegations against five suspects in a December 2011 double slaying in Long County, wounds deepen for relatives of victim Tiffany York, who was killed in Long County on Dec. 4 alongside her boyfriend, Michael Roark.

The girl’s father, Tim York, and paternal grandmother, Linda Cardwell, spoke Thursday evening with the Courier from their home near Fresno, Calif.

Their greatest issue, they said, is lack of communication from the District Attorney’s office. They said they found out about last week’s hearings the night before.

"We hear it on the internet," Cardwell said. "Do you think that’s fair for the grandmother and the father?"

Victim witness advocate Samantha Ashdown, who serves Liberty and Long counties, said she has been notifying several members of the victims’ families but will begin communicating with Cardwell after hearing her concerns.

The lack of communication arose when another family member volunteered to notify the family in California — a frequent cause for confusion because advocates only are required to provide notice to those who directly request it.

"Sometimes we only know a couple of days in advance with scheduling with attorneys and judges and the way court goes," Ashdown added. "We can know anywhere from three to five days in advance."

They family said Tiffany York gave no indications of the allegations that the suspects and Roark were involved in an extremist militia that sought to overthrow the government — but some red flags had arisen.

Cardwell said her granddaughter mentioned guns and cash lying around, and York said his daughter texted him some pictures of guns. He thought at first that they were hunting guns, until a closer inspection indicated they might be assault rifles.

"I go, ‘What’s he doing with that many guns and stuff?’" York said. "She told me, ‘Dad, all I want is to get there to you and grandma’s house and let them get to Washington.’"

As for the cash, Tiffany York told her family the cash was proceeds from a security business.

Cardwell added that she sends her condolences to Roark’s father and does not blame his son.

"This has to be a hard, hard situation for him — you know, that was his son. My heart goes out to him, it really does," she said.

The Liberty County High School senior planned to move to California and live with her father and grandmother but was waiting to finish her first-semester classes so the credits would transfer, the pair said.

"I’ve got a plane ticket," Cardwell said, adding that she went back and forth about the color the teen wanted her room painted before deciding on a shade of yellow.

They also refuted claims that the teen had run away from her mother’s Midway home.

In an interview last week with WTOC, the teen’s mother, Brenda Thomas, said her daughter left home because she could not abide by the rules.

"I carry the guilt, I think it’s my fault … I didn’t know in Georgia the law was that a 17-year-old can leave home," York said, adding that he wishes he had come to get his daughter rather than letting her finish school.

"You could sit Tiffany in a room of 100 people, and I guarantee you not one person would walk out of that room and hate her," York said. "She had such a big heart — always loving and laughing … It’s just hard to believe that she’s gone now. I love her, and she’s very, very, very missed."

The teen’s stepfather, Wesley Thomas, said he interacted with Roark several times and that he never saw cause for alarm.

"Mike, he showed me guns, but they’re just collectible guns that you’d use for target practice, not for stuff like this," he said about the militia allegations. He added that the family used to skeet and target shoot together, and Tiffany York enjoyed it as well.

Thomas lunged at one of the defendants Thursday during a pretrial hearing, but said that no charges were filed against him.

"I shouldn’t have done what I did in the courtroom, but nobody’s going to tell me what I did was wrong … you don’t never know what you’re going to do in that situation unless you’re in it," he said, adding that officers restrained him, calmed him down and explained that he cannot behave that way.

Thomas said the teen did not know about the suspects’ alleged plot and that she would have spoken up if she did.

"I just want justice, I guess ... I know it’s going to be a long, drawn-out process, and it just doesn’t seem fair. My daughter didn’t get a choice on how long her life was going to live," he said.

He added that he does not think Fort Stewart has responded appropriately to the situation.

"I heard on the news yesterday that they’re saying there’s no more out there. … It’s hard to believe four people can plot stuff like this without having somebody else involved," he said. "I just feel Fort Stewart should be locked down until they get to the bottom of it — there’s no way four people can come up with all this."

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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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