Guyton
Driving without license
Leaving the scene of accident/hit and run first offense
An officer spoke with a man who stated that when he got home from work, he saw his 14-year-old daughter walking from the backyard toward the front and asked her what she was doing outside. She said she was just walking around. The man got out of his vehicle and saw another vehicle, without headlights on, accelerating toward him. He attempted to make the vehicle stop but it didn’t, so he had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit. While getting out of the way, he threw his Blackberry phone at the vehicle, destroying the phone. The vehicle continued out of the front yard, missing a telephone wire by approximately three inches. The man stated that the vehicle continued down the dirt road without lights for several hundred yards before the driver turned them on. He asked his daughter who it was, and she said it was her friend who was 14 years old and that he drove from his home in Rincon. She then gave him the boy’s name and address. The officer went to the address and found the vehicle with damage to the front end. He also spoke with the juvenile. Another officer spoke with the male juvenile’s neighbor who said that the vehicle arrived at the house around 7:45 and left around 9:15. As the officer was driving on the dirt road, they saw where the vehicle had missed a curve in the road and went into the ditch then back onto the road, causing more damage to the vehicle.

Springfield
Theft by conversion (felony)
A man came into the sheriff’s office to report a theft. The man said that he sold a vehicle to the suspect. The sale had taken place at Gerrald Auto Sales in Garden City. The man said the suspect made one payment last September but has not made another one since, and that he is attempting to hide the vehicle so that it will not be repossessed. The complainant said he spoke with the suspect’s father, who said that the vehicle broke down near the Canadian border and was just left there.

Rincon
Unlawful dumping
Domestic dispute
Deputies responded to a house after being told about an unknown burning complaint and then updated as a domestic incident. Upon their arrival, deputies could see flames approximately 10 feet high coming from the back yard behind the fence. Deputies spoke to the neighbor, who said the male resident of the house was in his back yard burning items. Deputies walked into the backyard through an open gate and observed two white males near a heaping mound of plastic storage box containers burning near a tree. One male was standing with a water hose in his hand, squirting water on the fire. The other male was going in and out of a nearby storage shed and placing more plastic containers into the fire. The items being burned appeared to be Halloween decorations. One deputy made contact with the male suspect and noticed that he was heavily intoxicated. The deputy then confirmed that he was the resident and he was then placed under arrest for unlawful dumping (burning of items of hazardous plastic that pose a risk to the public health). While on the way to the jail, the suspect was very upset and stated that he found out that his spouse was cheating on him and that he had confirmed it. He stated that he was upset by this and decided to “burn everything.”

Springfield
Drug Investigation
A detention deputy at the Effingham County Jail advised an officer that he found a small bag of rocks in an inmate’s pants watch pocket. The inmate had been brought to the jail from the state probation office on an active probation violation warrant. The officer checked the unknown substance and identified it as being consistent with crack cocaine. A field test on the substance tested positive for cocaine. The small bag contained six large rocks, which is typically possessed by someone who sells or distributes the substance. The officer spoke with the inmate, who claimed that he didn’t know he had the substance on him. He was charged with possession of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, and crossing guard lines with drugs without the consent of the warden.

Guyton
Found property
An officer was flagged down by an Effingham County prison bus detail officer. The detail officer said he was given a pellet rifle by an inmate. The inmate was on trash pickup detail when he discovered the gun in the ditch in plain view. The inmate took the gun to the officer. The officer then contacted the supervisor and at that moment saw the other officer driving down the road. The officer took the weapon.