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THURSDAY. MAY 12. 2022 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 5B
REP
The Pickens Sheriff’s Of
fice responds to many calls
for service every day. The
following incidents are a few
deputies respond to each day.
Harassing phone calls
Around early morning a
man approached a deputy at
QuikTrip wanting to make a
report that someone had been
texting him and making
threatening remarks. He tried
to ignore the messages, how
ever, as time went on and the
messages began to get worse
causing him to worry more.
The man said that the
threats were directed toward
him, his family, and his
home. The man told the
deputy that he could show
proof with screenshots of all
the threatening messages he
had received. The man told
the deputy that many years
ago he had a person threaten
ing and harassing him so he
had an idea of who might be
threatening him now, but did
not know for sure.
The man tried to get the
person harassing him to
admit their identity, but the
person didn’t. Since then, the
man has blocked the phone
number and a new number
keeps trying to contact him.
This has been going on, on
and off for the last 10 years
and just started back up
within the past year.
Honda Pilot swerving in
and out of lanes
A deputy responded to a
report of a black Honda Pilot
swerving in and out of lanes
of traffic. 911 told the deputy
that three other drivers had
called about this car.
The driver of the car
pulled onto Worley Cross
roads heading north toward
Highway 53. The deputy
found the car and saw it
swerve in and out of the lane
several times.
Since the driver kept
swerving in and out of the
lanes, the deputy pulled the
car over. The deputy finally
got the car to pull over in
front of A&T Towing. The
deputy could see that there
were two people in the car,
the deputy asked the driver to
step out of the vehicle.
When the driver got out of
the car he was wearing dark
tinted sunglasses, so the
deputy asked the driver to
take his sunglasses off. After
the driver took the sunglasses
off, the deputy could see the
driver's eyes were glassy and
bloodshot. The driver said
that she had just left a restau
rant in Woodstock, GA, and
she drank two margaritas.
The passenger in the car
said she drank one margarita.
GSP arrived at the traffic stop
and did a field sobriety on the
driver of the vehicle. The
deputy asked if there was
anything illegal in the car
and, if so, what it was. The
passenger said that they did
have marijuana on them. The
deputy began to search the
car, he found what he be
lieved to be methampheta-
mine and a crystal pipe. The
deputy also found some open
containers of alcohol in the
car and he found a stop sign
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in the car.
Harassing phone calls to a
store owner
A deputy was called to a
gas station because the store
owner was being harassed by
a former employee by phone.
The former employee in
sisted that the owner needed
to send their last check to
Texas. The owner didn’t like
the former employee calling
him derogatory names and
being vulgar. Since the for
mer employee was rude to
the owner, the owner said he
would not send the check to
Texas. The owner told the
former employee if he
wanted his check, he would
have to come and only if a
deputy could be present
when he got the check.
Fraudulent Visa Scams
A deputy was called by a
woman wanting to make a re
port about fraud. The woman
told the deputy that she re
ceived a phone call from
Publisher’s Clearing House,
the woman did not think it
was odd because she had
dealings with Publisher’s
Clearing House for the past
10 years.
The man that called her
asked her to send a $250 Visa
gift card to Publisher’s Clear
ing House. After the woman
got the Visa gift card, she
called the phone number
back to give the man the card
information. The man asked
her to send two more Visa
gift cards for $500 each. The
woman thought it could be a
scam so she made up some
numbers and gave them to
the man on the phone.
The woman said that same
number tried to call her again
later, but she didn’t answer.
Failure to register as a sex
offender
A woman called a deputy
to report that a registered sex
offender used her address as
his own. The woman said
her daughter started dating
the registered sex offender
and that he had stayed at her
home on and off since the be
ginning of April. The woman
said the sex offender decided
to use her address when it
was time for him to register
again.
The woman said the regis
tered sex offender does not
live there and she wanted her
address removed from the
sex offender registry.
Woman flags down a
deputy and she had a war
rant
A woman flagged down a
deputy and told him their
were people wearing dis
guises all around her and in
and out of her house. The
deputy did not see anyone in
disguises. When he ran a
check on the woman it turned
out that she had warrants out
of another county for Crimi
nal Trespass and Criminal
Damage to Property. The
woman was arrested and
turned over the county that
had the warrants.
A man overseas in quaran
tine made a phone report
about fraud
A man called a deputy to
make a report about fraud.
The man said he received a
phone call from a “Stephen
Johnson” claiming to be a
deputy from Pickens Sher
iff’s Office. The man said
“Stephen” told him he had a
warrant for not going to jury
duty. “Stephen” told him that
if he paid $4,750 the warrant
could be removed.
“Stephen” held a normal con
versation with the man,
telling the man he was from
Pickens County and he was
27 years old, and graduated
from Pickens High School.
“Stephen” then transferred
the call to “Kristy” who
claimed to be with the Pick
ens Sheriff’s Office Finance
Department. The man said
both “Stephen” and “Kristy”
had southern accents, so he
believed they were from
Pickens County.
The man gave “Kristy” all
of his information, such as
his birthday, Social Security
number, and bank informa
tion. The man really didn’t
think it was strange until his
bank contacted him within
minutes of several transac
tions trying to go through.
The transactions were
$450, $463, $750, and
$1,000. The man had his ac-
The Sheriff’s
Beat
From the Pickens
Sheriff’s Office
During this past week, the Pickens Sheriff’s Office responded
to or initiated 1,905 calls for service. These numbers are taken
from the report provided directly from the 911 Center where all
calls are logged as they are perfonned. Below is a breakdown
of all dispatched calls by the call type for each incident.
Accidents 12
Suicide Threats / Attempts 3
Domestics 11
Theft / Burglary Related 15
Forgery / Fraud 5
Traffic Stops 107
Citations Issued 17
Animal Investigations 7
Suspicious Persons/Activity 23
Alarm Calls 9
Stranded Motorists 5
Street Hazards 7
Vandalism 2
Abandoned Vehicles 2
Extra Patrol - neighborhoods, businesses, residences 1,433.
In addition to these, other calls include search warrants, civil
service, 911 hang-up calls, assaults, disorderly persons, missing
persons, assistance with medical calls, natural death investiga
tions, demented persons, funeral escorts, harassment, trespass
ing, and many more.
Breakdown of Charges for those Arrested:
18 individuals were booked into the Adult Detention Center on charges
from the Pickens Sheriff's Office. Out of these, the following charges
were taken by PSO deputies (note: some individuals have multiple
charges):
Violation of RICO (Racketeering) 1
Possession of a Controlled Substance 2
Driving Under the Influence 2
Probation Violation 4
Reckless Conduct 1
Obstruction of an Officer 1
Theft by Taking 1
Battery Family Violence 2
Driving on a Suspended License 1
Simple Assault 1
Criminal Damage to Property 2nd Degree 1
Hold for Court 1
Disorderly Conduct 2
Theft by Shoplifting 1
Aggravated Assault Family Violence 1
Criminal Trespass 2
Bench Warrant 1
Bond Violation 2
Giving False Name 1
Theft by Receiving 1
count frozen at that point.
The man told the deputy he is
currently overseas in quaran
tine, and if the deputy needed
any more information he
would have to contact the
man by phone.
A woman under the influ
ence flagged down a deputy
A woman flagged down a
deputy while he was on pa
trol. When the deputy got
out of the car the woman was
kneeling on the ground in
front of his car with her
hands behind her head. The
deputy told her to stand up so
he could talk to her and find
out what was going on. The
woman had on a t-shirt and
jeans but no shoes, and she
was soaking wet. The deputy
looked at her eyes and they
were blood shot and glassy.
The deputy asked the
woman why she was soaking
wet, and she told him she had
gotten hot and dumped water
on herself. The deputy asked
what he could help her with
and the woman said her
brother had been mean to her.
Another deputy went to
where the woman had been
staying and was told the
woman had been drunk and
disorderly and was also both
ering the neighbors up and
down the road.
The deputy asked the
woman what she had taken
that day, and the woman told
the deputy she had only
drank a bottle of liquor that
day. When the other deputy
told her that her family said
she could not come back to
the house, the woman said
she would just walk up and
down the road. The deputies
told her she couldn’t continue
to walk in the roadway be
cause it was dangerous and
the deputies offered her help.
Man locked out of the
house after arguing with his
wife
A man called a deputy to
report his wife had locked
him out of the house. The
man told the deputy he had
left that morning to go work
out and when he came back
home the doors were locked
and his wife would not let
him in the house. The deputy
asked the man if they had
been arguing and the man
said no.
The deputy spoke to the
wife and she said they had
been arguing before he went
to work out, and she thought
he had been drinking so she
locked him out. The man and
woman agreed to work out
their differences.
A man reported suspicious
people on his property
A man called deputies to
his home to report four un
known people walking out of
the woods at his elderly par
ents’ home. The man said he
confronted the people and
told them he would shoot if
they didn’t leave. The man
said two of the unknown peo
ple were on the back porch,
so he shot through the back
door, which was shattered.
The deputies asked the
man how many times he shot
and he thought it was three
times. Deputies looked at
some video live feed from
around the property and
house. The deputies did not
see anyone coming out of the
woods, nor did they see any
one come off the back porch.
In addition to the above
activity from the Uniform
Patrol Division, Court Serv
ice Deputies reported the fol
lowing statistics for the past
week:
Persons Scanned at
Front Door: 1278
Weapons Found: 6
Courts Held: 10
Arrests Made in
the Courthouse: 1
Civil Papers Received: 32
Civil Papers Served: 9
In the Adult Detention
Center:
Total Jail population^ 1
Total male inmates: 55
Total female inmates: 16
Sex Offenders:
There are currently 64 sex of
fenders registered with the
Pickens Sheriff’s Office.
tip
411
IN PLAIN
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about both programs can be found at https://pickensgash-
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