Crime & Safety

Crime Report: Shoplifting Suspect Pushes Store Employee, Identity Stolen and More

The following information was gathered from Oconee County Sheriff's Office reports and highlights incidents reported Aug. 13-19.

Shoplifting: A loss prevention employee of told deputies on Aug. 19 a 51-year-old Winder woman tried to shoplift $141 worth of merchandise.  The woman has been banned from all Walmart, Sam's Club, and Murphy USA stores. 

Missing Person: A Bethlehem woman reported her son, Jonathan Ryan Brown, as missing on Aug. 19.  Brown is 21-years-old and described as 5'10", 155 pounds with green eyes and brown hair.  He wears thick-framed glasses and has a strawberry birthmark on his neck.  The report states he was last seen in the area of Epps Bridge Parkway and the last alleged contact from Brown was on July 6, 2012 via Facebook.

Burglary: A resident of the 2100 block of Hebron Church Road on Aug. 18 reported someone broke into her house sometime over the last two weeks.  The side door of the home was open and several window screens had been forced open as well.  There was also a broken panel on the side of the house that leads to the crawl space underneath.  Nothing appeared to be missing at the time of the report.

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Shoplifting Suspect Pushes Store Employee: On Aug. 17 around 11 p.m., a deputy was dispatched to Walmart.  A loss prevention employee told the deputy a tall, black man wearing a red shirt, blue shorts and a red baseball hat ran from the store after having taken items. 

According to the incident report, the man had been in the store with another group of men and then they piled into a Chevy Impala and drove away. Deputies searched the area, but did not find the vehicle or suspect.

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Upon reviewing video, a deputy saw the suspect push the loss prevention employee when confronted, drop the merchandise and run away.

: Investigations are ongoing. An arrest does not mean a conviction.

: Authorities say two Walton County men Friday morning inadvertently flagged down a patrol car after leading deputies on a nearly three-hour foot chase in the area of Lane Creek and Ga. Highway 53 in Oconee County.

Not so Fast: A sharp cashier took note when a man attempted to purchase a $50 prepaid Visa card with a credit card.  The employee noticed the last four digits of the credit card the man was holding did not match the last four digits that appeared in the register after the card was swiped.  When she told the man she needed to contact the store manager, he left.

Checks Taken from Mailbox: A resident of Pine Hill Circle told deputies on Aug. 16 that she had placed three checks into her mailbox the day before and raised the flag so the mail carrier would pick up the envelopes.  However, she noticed in the morning that the red flag was down and the mailbox was empty even though the main carrier hadn't been by.

: Donald Cory Turpin and Ricky Young are charged in connection with two burglaries that occurred on Choyce Johnson Road on July 26, 2012. An arrest does not mean a conviction.

Physical Domestic Dispute: Deputies were dispatched to a residence in the 1100 block of Kirkland Road around 9 a.m. on Aug. 16.  A man had called to report his adult daughter and her live-in boyfriend had been in an argument.  The victim told the deputies she and her boyfriend fought the night before over money issues and that he pushed her and struck her in the face. The deputy "noticed several bruises and slight swelling to her face."

The boyfriend returned home while the deputy was there and admitted to having had the argument over money issues and a cigarette, according to the incident report.  Deputies say he also admitted to striking the victim with his hands. 

The was charged with battery.

Identity Theft: A resident of Beverly Drive on Aug. 15 reported she received a Fed-Ex package with her husband's name as the sender and a "return to sender" stamp on it.  She found a fraudulent check inside addressed to a person in Michigan. 

The woman also reported having received a call from another person in Michigan who stated he had received a check addressed from the husband and wanted to know if the check was real.  He said he had found her phone number and address on the Internet.  Neither the woman nor her husband wrote the checks.

The woman also said she found out her American Express card had eight fraudulent charges totaling $269.

- Deputies arrested a 27-year-old Clarke County man in the area of Oconee Crossing early Tuesday morning. An arrest does not mean a conviction.

Two Cars Entered: Deputies were dispatched to the parking lot of on Jennings Mill Parkway around 6:30 a.m. on Aug. 13. The owner of a 1985 Chevy Corvette reported that sometime between 9:30 p.m. on Aug. 12 and 6:15 a.m. on Aug. 13, the passenger window of his vehicle was damaged and a CD player was taken. There was also damage to the dashboard. The owner of a 2003 Chrysler Sebring reported similar damage to a window and a stolen CD player.

Shoplifting: A loss prevention employee at Walmart reported two men left the store on Aug. 13 around 3 p.m. with nothing in their hands; however, when the employee checked a shopping cart the men had left near the front of the store, he found an empty drill box. The drill is valued at $50.  The men had already left the parking lot when the theft was discovered.

Shoplifting: A was arrested and charged with shoplifting from Walmart on Aug. 13.  A loss prevention employee said the woman paid for some items at the register, but concealed others in her purse and under a jacket in the cart.  Among items taken, collectively valued at $97, were a floor lamp, mayonnaise, lime juice, push pins and steak sauce.

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