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Effingham County Sheriff's Office reports
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Jan. 10
Fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer
DUI - fourth or subsequent
Failure to maintain lane
Possession of open alcohol container
Reckless driving
While patrolling Courthouse Road near Azalea Point, a deputy checked the speed of a white pickup that was traveling at 28 mph in a 55 mph zone. The pickup driver then accelerated in excess of 60 mph. The deputy identified the low speed as a common trait of an impaired driver. After the deputy turned on the blue lights and approached the truck, the driver put the truck in drive and sped away. The driver continued down Courthouse Road, driving over the center line several times.

The pickup turned left onto Midland Road, continuing to drive over the center line several times. He hit 70 mph and continued to drive in the other lane before reaching Blue Jay Road, where he turned left, nearly driving off the road and into a ditch.

The truck reached 90 mph and eventually 97 mph while traveling through 35 and 45 mph zones. Deputies awaited ahead of the fleeing truck with spike strips. The truck hit the spikes and its tires deflated. The driver continued, with sparks visible as he drove with the wheels scraping the road. After making it through the curve at the Herbert Kessler Road intersection, the truck pulled over and came to a stop. Deputies got out of their vehicles with weapons drawn, ordering the driver out of his vehicle. He got out of the truck and went to the ground.

In the pickup, deputies found an open bottle of Lord Calvert whiskey and a cold, empty bottle of Budweiser Black Crown beer. While deputies waited for the wrecker, the suspect had to be taken out of the patrol car because he was about to become ill. He later threw up in the patrol vehicle as they arrived at the jail.

Jan. 14
Aggravated stalking
Aggravated assault
Battery
A woman told deputies that when she and her grandmother returned from shopping, she was attacked. The offender was crouched behind some clothes and jumped out at her. The victim said she was grabbed by the throat and the offender snatched her phone from her. Her attacker grabbed a knife and stabbed the phone. She said she managed to get the knife away from her attacker and held the offender at bay as she left the house. She ran to her grandmother’s house, and she noticed the offender leave the house with two large bags. The victim already had a restraining order against her assailant.

Jan. 14
Animal complaint
A brown pit bull and a golden Labrador retriever were running at large when the pit bull turned and attacked the Lab. The victim dog’s owners said the neighbor’s dogs are running loose constantly and they are afraid of them because of those dogs acting aggressively on several occasions. The pit bull’s owner was contacted, but she was babysitting in Savannah at the time.

A deputy set a trap for the dogs and caught a Shar-Pei mix. As he began to take the dog out of the trap and into his patrol car, the pit bull mix charged. The deputy fired his gun to avoid being attacked. The dogs’ owner eventually arrived and was able to secure the pit bull, which was placed in a sheriff’s office patrol vehicle. The owner was charged with two counts of animals running at large and three counts of no proof of rabies vaccinations.

Jan. 15
Simple battery
Criminal trespass
Deputies responded to a Guyton address on a domestic dispute call. A man said he got into an argument with his mother, and when his brother stepped in, the altercation became physical. The brother said when he went to make sure his mother was OK, the offender lunged at him, knocking their mother down, and swung at him. The mother said she got home and the garage door was locked. She knocked for a short period of time and after the offender opened the door, she said something about the door not being opened soon enough. After he talked back to her, he went upstairs and she went upstairs as well, telling him if he didn’t like living there he could move out. The argument escalated from there.

Written statements were obtained from both victims and from a juvenile witness.

Jan. 16
Harassing phone calls
A woman told deputies her granddaughters had been receiving threatening phone calls. The person on the other end of the phone knew all of the information about her children. The granddaughters said the caller said “I’m going to kill your brother,” and “he needs to leave here or else,” among other threats. No one was sure who was making the calls and knew all their information and had a Hispanic accent. The granddaughters said the caller had his number blocked from their screen and he had all of the grandchildren’s phone numbers. They were getting calls five times or more a day. The grandmother said she had not heard any of these threats directly.

Jan. 16
Theft by taking - felony
At a Bloomingdale home, deputies were told a man saw his stepson walk out of his bedroom and he found his nightstand’s top drawer opened. The homeowner’s firearm, which was in the nightstand, was missing. He called his wife and told her what happened, and she called her son and searched his vehicle but did not find the weapon.

Jan. 16
Found property
A deputy went to a Rincon business where a pistol was found inside a truck. The 9mm was in a pickup that had been delivered to the business, an auto auction. The original owner of the pickup was identified and the gun was checked through Georgia Crime Information Center.

Jan. 16
Theft by taking - felony
Entering automobile
Deputies were informed by a man that his .380-caliber pistol was missing from his nightstand. A woman at another address said the .380 pistol she kept under her car’s passenger seat was missing. The first victim said someone staying at his house could have both guns in his possession. The suspected offender has a drug habit and could be attempting to pawn the pistols.

Jan. 16
Fraud
A Rincon man told deputies that there were several irregular purchases on his credit card. The bank had alerted him about the purchases, and he told the bank he did not make them. There were several purchases to Gap online and a purchase to Buckle online for more than $1,200 total.

Jan. 16
Fraud
A woman’s boyfriend received mail stating a purchase had been attempted in his name. She said she talked to her boyfriend about it but he did not know anything about it and did not know who may have had made it. The order had an amount of $174.90 for two pairs of shoes. The order had a Honey Ridge Road shipping address, plus an email and a phone number.

Jan. 16
Burglary
Deputies were informed by a Rincon-area man that another man had sold the victim’s belongings. The victim said he had not stayed at the residence for a few weeks but continued to stop by. A neighbor told him he saw a pickup with appliances stored in the bed leave the house, and that another friend had come to the house and took items to her house for safekeeping. The friend said the suspect had come to her house looking to sell some of the victim’s belongings. She went to the house and saw some of his items were out in the open. She spotted games and a sword she knew belonged to the complainant on a couch. There also was someone there she did not know attempting to buy a microwave. The next day, deputies got a call from a man who bought the washer and dryer but he did not know they did not belong to the man who sold them to him.

Jan. 17
Animal complaint
A deputy responded to a call about an aggressive animal. A woman said a dog tried to bite her son and as a deputy approached the dog’s residence, it began to growl. As the deputy backed away and started to call animal control, the dog went after a young child. The deputy distracted the dog, which quit chasing the child.

Jan. 17
Public drunkenness
The manager of a Rincon-area restaurant told deputies she saw a woman walk down the sidewalk in front of the establishment’s glass front wall as if she were looking for a door. Eventually, she staggered into the dining area and fell into a booth. The woman composed herself and ordered food. She identified herself to authorities in a thick, slurred voice, and a strong odor of alcohol was present. Her movements were slow and repetitive. She said she had been at a friend’s house in Rincon. When asked how she got to the restaurant, she rambled through a confusing excuse of her friend driving her there and then going home with another friend while her truck was left in the parking lot.

Jan. 17
Battery - family violence
Criminal trespass
Deputies were sent to a domestic dispute and while on their way, the offender called dispatch and said he had put his hands on the victim and he “needed to go to jail.” The victim said the offender, her husband, “just went crazy,” and her glasses were damaged when he “stomped” on them after they fell off her face. The offender said they had been arguing and admitted to head-butting his wife.

Jan. 18
Domestic dispute
Two sons told deputies they had been arguing with their father, and they left the house because their father was irate. They said they were walking down the road when he pulled up and began to yell at them, accusing them of stealing a pressure washer. The argument escalated into a physical confrontation between the father and one son before the other son separated them.

The father told deputies his sons were drug addicts and had been stealing from him to support their habits. He said when they left that morning he did not want them to come back to the house. He left and saw them walking back toward the residence. He said he stopped and told them not to go back there and that they were no longer welcome at his house.  The father said his sons began to yell at him and approach in an aggressive manner.