Several bicycles have disappeared from Oconee County homes lately. Most recently, a woman reported the theft of a $130 bike from the 2000 block of Malcom Bridge Road.  It went missing sometime between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. on May 14. The Oconee County Sheriff's Office was also notified of a bike theft on May 9.  A green Mongoose brand bike that had been left near the entrance of an Oak Drive driveway on May 8 wasn't there the following morning. On May 6,  a VFW Drive resident told Watkinsville Police that someone took two children’s bicycles, valued at $200, from inside of his garage. The theft …

An Athens man faces a charge of aggravated assault in Oconee County for allegedly pointing a handgun toward two men while driving along Ga. 316 Sunday evening. The two men, one from Madison and one from Watkinsville, told Oconee County Sheriff's deputies that around 6 p.m. they saw a man speeding east in a white Chevy Blazer on Ga. 316 near Pete Dickens Road. According to the incident report, the victims said the Blazer nearly struck them as it passed, and that it weaved in the roadway in front of them. They told deputies they tried to catch up to the vehicle to get the license plate number …

On May 10, 2012, a handyman entered a 73-year-old Oconee County woman's Peacock Drive home and bludgeoned her while she was in bed.  One year to the day later, he pleaded guilty to the crime. In superior court Friday, Jacob Potter Wagner, now 23, changed his plea to guilty on three counts of aggravated battery, one count aggravated assault and one count burglary.  A grand jury indicted Wagner on 10 counts, but per the negotiated plea agreement, a charge of criminal attempt to commit murder, an additional aggravated assault charge, two additional counts of burglary and a theft charge were …

Oconee County Sheriff's investigators have charged a Watkinsville man with the Tuesday burglary of a Watson Springs Road home. Sometime between 7:35 a.m. and 5:10 p.m., a 42-inch flatscreen television was taken from the house and an air compressor, a nail gun kit and a backpack blower were removed from a storage building area.  The items are worth about $1,600. According to the incident report, there were no signs of forced entry. Investigators processed the scene and later recovered the stolen property at a location in Madison County. Around 9 p.m., Billy Joe Hanley, 33, of Moreland Drive, …

A Winder man is facing charges related to the theft of catalytic converters from  Bimmers South Automotive.  The Athens Banner-Herald reports Christopher Leon Pope, 38, is also facing charges for similar crimes in Jackson County. Investigator David Stauffacher, with the Oconee County Sheriff's Office, told the Banner-Herald Pope confessed to the crimes but hasn't yet been transferred from Jackson County.  Bimmers South General Manager Brandon Yarbrough told the newspaper his business has been hit by thieves at least 10 times.  Click here to read the full story.  Subscribe to Oconee Patch’s …

Following several recent thefts from homes and storage sheds in communities throughout the county, the Oconee County Sheriff's Office is asking residents to be on the lookout for suspicious individuals, vehicles and activity.   According to the sheriff's office, the thefts typically take place on weekdays between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. Anyone who observes suspicious activity is asked to call 911 immediately and attempt to provide a vehicle description and a description of any suspect. Those who report activity may remain anonymous. Subscribe to Oconee Patch’s free newsletter, like us on Facebook …

The burglaries of three homes Wednesday afternoon in Oconee County are under investigation.  In one instance, residents of Northwoods Road left for only about an hour -- from 1:15 to 2:30 p.m. -- and returned to a ransacked house. Burglars made off with jewelry valued at $10,000, a television and speakers. Two televisions and power tools were snatched from a home on Barnett Ridge during approximately the same time frame, 1-3 p.m.  Someone had forced open the garage door. About four miles away, a resident of Travis Drive told deputies she noticed something was awry when she arrived home from …

A second person has been arrested in connection with an ongoing investigation into a human trafficking case involving a young girl in Oconee County, according to the Sheriff's Office. Seventeen-year-old Salvador Martinez of Epps Bridge Road was booked into the Oconee County Jail on Friday on charges of child molestation and enticing a child for indecent purposes. Martinez is a student at North Oconee High School, according to his Facebook profile. Martizez is accused of paying the 13-year-old victim $20 for sexual activity, a news release says, and the victim was then allegedly forced to turn…

Updated at noon on April 27 A 19-year-old Oconee County man was jailed late Thursday on charges related to the alleged prostitution of a young girl over a period of almost two years. Tyler Kaahlil Standifur of Dowdy Road is charged with aggravated child molestation, trafficking in persons for the purpose of sexual servitude, pandering by compulsion and enticing a child for indecent purposes, jail records confirm. He's currently being held without bond. Oconee County Sheriff's investigators were notified by counselors of Oconee County Schools that a 13-year-old student told them she had been …

Residents of a home in the 1000 block of Brighton Lane say they suspect neighborhood children have been shooting an air rifle or BB gun at their property causing damage. Oconee County Sheriff's deputies took the report on April 21, and it's reportedly been happening for about a month. BBs struck a rearview mirror of one car, cratered the driver's door of another and struck a window at the front of the house on two separate occasions, according to the report. The residents also said they found a container of BBs at the edge of the woods across from their house. The case is listed as active.

Oconee County Sheriff's deputies investigated the following reports of entered autos April 18 -21: Between 7 p.m. on April 19 and 9 a.m. on April 20, someone entered two vehicles parked in the 1100 block of Lake Pointe Drive and nabbed a GPS unit and a cell phone. An unlocked 2002 Honda Accord parked in the driveway of a residence in the 1400 block of Harperfield Drive was entered sometime between 9 p.m. on April 19 and 8 a.m. on April 20.  A pair of Nike shoes and about $10 in quarters was missing. On April 19, a deputy met with a resident of the 1100 block of Spartan Lane.  He said someone …

For the second time in a week, an Oconee County Sheriff's deputy was called to investigate the circumstances surrounding an apparent self-inflicted, accidental gunshot wound. On April 16, a 36-year-old man at St.Mary's Hospital recounted how he accidentally shot himself in the leg. A few days later on April 19, a 25-year-old man explained how he wound up being treated at the same hospital for a gunshot wound to his hand.  After cleaning his pistol at his Marshall Store Road address, where the man spoke with deputies about 10 p.m. Friday, the man said he reassembled the gun, placed a magazine …

Oconee County Sheriff's deputies are investigating several burglaries that were reported over the last week. On April 16, a resident of the 1000 block of Thornwell Court told deputies he arrived home around 3:50 p.m. to find someone had taken two rifles and a shotgun. An iPad 2, a flat-screen TV and a laptop computer were also missing. The total value of the items is estimated at $3,800. According to the incident report, it appeared that the burglar entered through an open garage door sometime between 7:15 that morning and the time the resident returned that afternoon. Also under …

A 36-year-old Oconee County man was treated at St. Mary's Hospital last Tuesday evening, April 16, after apparently accidentally shooting himself in the leg. The man told the deputy, who had responded to the hospital around 7:30 p.m., that as he was removing a .22 caliber revolver from the front pocket of his pants to place on a shelf in the living room of his home, the weapon discharged once.  The man was struck in the left leg below the calf muscle, according to the deputy's report.  The path of the bullet was visible, just under the skin, the deputy wrote, and the bullet lodged in the shin…

A resident of Jimmy Daniel Road reported someone broke into her home in the 1700 block and took multiple items. The burglary occurred sometime between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Wednesday, April 10. Two televisions, a guitar, a game system and a quaniity of jewelry was taken.  Neither a detailed description nor an estimated value was listed in the initial report. The case is listed as active. Also under investigation is a burglary of an Adams Road residence.  On Tuesday, April 9 the resident reported that someone entered his house between midnight and 9 a.m. that day and removed items valued around…

An Oconee County Sheriff's deputy late Monday night met with a man at fire station 5 on Greensboro Highway in reference to a criminal trespass. The man showed the deputy a lewd drawing he found scribbled in the pollen on the hood of his truck and said it appeared someone had also urinated on the front grill.  "There was something on the truck, but it was difficult to tell if it was urine because it was so dark outside," the deputy wrote in the report. There was no visible damage to the truck, and the complainant left after the deputy tried to advise him of the warrant process.

A resident of the 1200 block Castle Drive returned home Thursday, April 4, to find she'd been the victim of a burglary. Someone had entered the home through a side door visible from the street, according to a Sheriff's report.  The break-in happened sometime between 7:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. that day. Three flat screen televisons were taken along with a Nintendo Wii, a Chromebook laptop and an iPad.  Investigators are working on the case.

An Athens man who drove to the Oconee County Sheriff's Office and entered the lobby wound up in trouble with the law after authorities say they detected alcohol on his breath. Bruce W. Curtis, 62, was charged Thursday with DUI after conversing with Chief Deputy Lee Weems and agreeing to blow into a portable alcohol tester, according to the Athens Banner-Herald. The device registered a .14 blood alcohol level, the newspaper reported. Sheriff Scott Berry said it's not the first time a visitor to the Sheriff's Office has wound up facing a DUI charge.  It's happened about five times over the past…

An employee of Bell's Food Store on Hog Mountain Road told Oconee County Sheriff's deputies this week that he witnessed a man stuffing ribs from the meat counter into his pants. Deputies were called to the store just before 9 p.m. on April 3 but the suspect had already left and fled in a white Ford Ranger.   The case is listed as active. On the same day around the same time across town at Walmart on Epps Bridge Parkway, a security guard called deputies after he says he witnessed another man attempt to steal a fountain drink and a small sack of chicken wings from the deli section of the store …

Oconee County Sheriff's deputies are investigating the burglary of a home in the 2000 block of Old Bishop Road.  The residence was forcibly entered sometime between 6 p.m. on March 29 and 3 p.m. on April 1, according to an incident report. Deputies were told by the complainant that three shotguns, two rifles and a scope had been taken along with a hunting bow, two televisions, a digital camera and video recorder and an iPad2. The victim was reached by phone and said he would verify if other items were missing when he returned home. The total value of the items is estimated at $11,150. Don’t …