Dec. 3
Domestic dispute
Deputies responded to a Bloomingdale address, and a female at the address said, when asked what was going on, “the same old same old.” She said she called because she was choked in her closet and picked up by her throat. Her fiancé faced serious changes for assaulting her. She admitted to having a glass of champagne when asked if she had been drinking. She also was asked how many times deputies had responded to the house for similar incidents and she said “too many.” It was the sixth time deputies had come out to the house since May.
Deputies spoke with the fiancé and three others who had been inside the house. He said they started arguing when he came home and discovered she had consumed a bottle of wine and three Xanax pills. He said he did not choke nor did he take her phone from her. He said he loved her and thought they could work things out.
The woman was asked again what started the fight, and she did not provide an answer. There was no evidence to support her claim of being assaulted. She admitted to taking a prescribed light dose of Klonopin. Based on the lack of evidence to support her domestic violence claims and the times deputies already had responded to the residence, both parties were arrested for maintaining a disorderly house.
Dec. 4
Theft by taking (felony)
A man told deputies someone had taken the gun he kept under his mattress. He said the only person who comes into the room is his at-home nurse. When she was reached by phone, she said she had not seen the gun under the mattress for about a week and added she is scared of guns and wanted no part in being around one. There were no signs of forced entry into the residence and no signs of other tampering elsewhere in the house.
Dec. 4
Domestic dispute
A deputy was dispatched to a Statesboro hospital in reference to an injury said to have been incurred during an Effingham domestic dispute. A pregnant woman said when she got home from work, her boyfriend started an argument about food. She said he got physical with her, grabbing her by the throat, choking her and hitting her with an open hand. Her boyfriend left, and a deputy observed visible swelling and bruising to her left eye, visible bruising around her neck and a pooling of blood in her left eye. She also had not felt any activity from her fetus all day and was afraid it had been injured. She could not provide an address or any identifying features about her unborn baby’s father.
Hospital staff confirmed the unborn baby had not been harmed. The deputy noticed the woman’s name on her uniform was spelled differently from what she had spelled out for the deputy.
Upon locating her vehicle in the hospital parking lot, the deputy called back to dispatch and discovered not only did she spell her name differently but also her date of birth and her address were different than what she provided.
Dec. 5
Domestic dispute
A woman said issues were arising from her boyfriend not being truthful with her. She said she gave him $2,000 for an attorney and other items but her boyfriend’s mother told her to leave the residence, where she had been staying for the last three weeks. She returned to the home to get the rest of her belongings and got into an argument with her boyfriend. She said the boyfriend’s mother and sister began trying to push her out of the house. She said she wanted to get a few items and leave for the night and also said no one hit anyone else.
The other two women said the complainant was going “crazy,” and others who witnessed the incident said the complainant and her boyfriend got into argument but things got out of hand only after the boyfriend allegedly snorted a line of cocaine. They said the boyfriend ran outside and away from the house after the sheriff’s office was called.
Dec. 6
Passing in a no-passing zone
A deputy saw a car turn off Highway 21 onto Fourth Street in Rincon and then go into the opposite lane, passing the vehicle in front on a no-passing stretch in front of Rincon Elementary School. After a traffic stop, the driver said she passed in the no-passing zone to avoid pieces of wood coming off a trailer that were striking her vehicle.
Dec. 6
Domestic dispute
Deputies responded to a home on a domestic dispute, and a female complainant said she and her boyfriend had been at a bar drinking and, on the way home, they started arguing about his cousin. His cousin was living with them and not paying rent. Her boyfriend began driving recklessly and she asked him to pull over. He refused and began to hit her. When they got home, she attempted to call 911, but he took the phone from her. She tried to run to a neighbor’s house but he caught up to her and threw her on the ground, hitting her and choking her and dragging her by her hair back to the house.
She also said her boyfriend told her he was leaving and going to pick up their son, and she was never going to see him or her son again.
Deputies went to the house and the cousin in question answered the door. The boyfriend said he and the complainant had been to a couple of bars and got into an argument. He said he chased her down in an effort to get her to calm down and bring her back to the residence to protect her, since she is in a custody battle with the father of her other child. He said that after they argued in the yard for a few minutes, he said he was going to pick up their son. He said he did not choke her. The complainant had abrasions and bruises on her neck and arms, her shirt was torn and one of her earrings was broken. The boyfriend was arrested for battery under the family violence act.
Dec. 6
Domestic dispute
A man told deputies that his son and the father of his son’s girlfriend were involved in an altercation. The son said he found out his girlfriend was cheating on him and he decided to move out. Upon pulling up to their residence, his girlfriend’s father became belligerent, telling him he was not going to remove any belongings and he wasn’t allowed in the house. The son said he told the girlfriend’s father to leave but he refused. The girlfriend’s father tried to hit him while he was sitting in his pickup.
Deputies spoke with the girlfriend’s father, who said no physical altercation occurred. He said his daughter told him not to let her boyfriend in the home while she wasn’t there. He was advised he is not a resident of that address and not empowered to stop any other resident from entering the home. He said he would let his daughter and her boyfriend handle it and he was “tired of dealing with them fighting all the time.”
Dec. 6
Damage to property
A woman told deputies she heard commotion outside her house. When she went outside, she noticed her mailbox had been damaged and it appeared to have been struck by a vehicle.
Dec. 6
Stalking
Deputies were informed by a woman that her estranged husband was sending her text messages she believes were intended to harass and intimidate her. The texts describe where she is and what she is doing at a given time. He also had sent her messages about taking pictures off the wall, which she said he could not have known about unless he had been inside the house. The messages have caused her emotional distress and she is in fear for her safety and her son’s safety. She did not want to pursue a criminal charge, and she was advised to contact her attorney for legal advice and of several court processes that are available to her.
Dec. 6
Information report
Deputies were called out when someone saw two dogs locked in an unoccupied vehicle outside a Rincon-area mini-storage facility. A deputy found that all four windows were cracked open and there was a breeze. Both dogs appeared to be healthy and did not appear to be in distress. Shortly after a humane enforcement deputy arrived, the vehicle’s owner arrived and said he intended to leave the dogs in there for only a short time, but the vehicle broke down. He was advised not to leave the animals unattended even for a brief period, and he seemed genuinely concerned about the dogs.
Dec. 6
Agency assist
Springfield Police officers were called to the Effingham County Prison after a woman was found to have crossed the guard line with drugs. A prison guard found a bag of marijuana where the woman had been standing. When the suspect approached the reception desk, which is beyond the guard post, a strong smell of marijuana was prevalent. When asked about the odor, the woman walked out of the entrance door. However, she could not exit because the gate was locked. When the gate was opened, the woman left, and guards discovered the marijuana where the woman had been standing, a secure area of the prison within the perimeter fence that is patrolled routinely and continuously under video surveillance.
The woman initially denied that the marijuana was hers but eventually admitted it was. She was administered field sobriety tests, with clues on four of eight points on one test and six of six points on another test.
Dec. 6
Burglary - second degree (felony)
Several people reported that after attending a Christmas party they discovered their vehicles had been broken into, with someone breaking the windows to gain access. The victims said they would call their credit card companies to cancel any cards that had been stolen.
Dec. 7
Domestic dispute
Simple battery - family violence
A man said he and his girlfriend got into an argument about cleaning the house and the house’s condition. He said they are expecting a child, and he didn’t want the child brought home to filth. He said he decided to calm down by sitting in his truck and drinking a beer. He then decided to go to his mother’s house until things calmed down, but he didn’t have his boots. He attempted to speak with his girlfriend but another argument ensued. His girlfriend went to their children’s room but he got between her and the door and wouldn’t let her in. She began to get belligerent so he spit in her face. He said, “I just let the anger get out of me,” and then she hit him in his “man parts.” He grabbed her arm to subdue her and took her to the ground. The girlfriend concurred with most of the events the boyfriend described, and she said she was afraid of the pressure he was exerting on her because she was 37 weeks pregnant.
