On The Record
The
Commerce News
December 19, 2007 • Page 7A
Commerce Police Arrests
'Nervous" Man At Well Known
Officer: Suspect In
Chase Tried To Hit Him
Drug Hangout Had Reason For Jitters
A Carnesville man faces drug
trafficking and five other charges
after an alert Commerce police
officer became suspicious of his
presence at a location known for
illegal drug activity.
Arthur Shannon, 34, of 730 Bold
Eagle Road, Carnesville, was one
of three black males the officer
noted standing among a group
of cars in the parking lot of the
closed Old South Barbecue,
Homer Road, one afternoon.
The officer knew that the owner
of the property did not want peo
ple loitering there, and he also
knew from previous arrests and
observations that it is a favored
spot for illegal drug transactions,
according to the report.
The officer said he recognized
two of the three and struck up a
conversation with one of them as
Shannon, who he did not know,
stood nearby cleaning out his
car.
The officer pointed out that he
had warned the two men he rec
ognized “at least five times” prior
that they should stay off the prop
erty. One of them complained
that police officers were harass
ing the men, the officer said.
As he was talking, the officer
said he noticed that Shannon
appeared to be “very nervous,”
so he asked him who he was,
and Shannon was reluctant to tell
him, saying he was “just a poor
man coming through and not to
worry about him,” according to
the report.
“I told him jokingly not to make
me get out of my car to ID him,”
the officer continued, at which
time Shannon gave him his real
name .
The officer left the scene, then
ran the tag from the vehicle
Shannon was working on, where
upon he found that Shannon’s
license had been suspended for
controlled substance violations
and child support obligations and
that Franklin County had a war
rant for his arrest for failure to
pay child support.
The officer returned to the scene
and told Shannon “he would have
to go with me” because of the
warrant. According to the report,
Shannon replied that he would,
but that first he wanted to call his
wife.
The officer said he could call
his wife — or anyone else — after
he patted the suspect down for
weapons, the report said, where
upon Shannon said no, and the
officer ordered him to put his
hands on the car.
Shannon refused, the officer
pulled out his pepper spray, and
Shannon ran, the report said,
into the trees behind the parking
lot, where he turned around and
faced the officer with his “fists
balled.” “So I deployed my pep
per spray and sprayed him in the
face,” the officer wrote. Shannon
ran again, but the officer tackled
him as a backup arrived.
After a struggle, the officer was
able to get handcuffs on the sus
pect, and the report said the offi
cer found a gray silk bag with
a quantity of suspected crack
cocaine.
A pat-down of Shannon turned
up $680 in cash, the report said,
while a search of the bag pro
duced a small quantity of suspect
ed marijuana, 11 small bags con
taining crack cocaine, four hydro-
codone pills and seven Xanax
pills. Later, after the department’s
drug dog indicated contraband in
Shannon’s vehicle, officers found
more marijuana, some “rolling
cigars” and $2,000 in cash.
Shannon is charged with pos
session of cocaine with intent to
distribute, possession of hydro-
codone, possession of Xanax,
possession of marijuana, obstruc
tion of officers and was booked
on the child support warrant.
Other Arrests
Others arrested during the past
week include:
•Nathan Joseph Sirois, 27, 1491
South Elm Street, Commerce,
driving under the influence (DUI)
of intoxicants, speeding and reck
less driving. He was pulled over
after the officer allegedly clocked
him at 84 miles per hour on the
bypass.
• Francisco P. Herrera Martinez,
42, 5357 Quincy Place, No. 101,
Hyattsville, MD, driving without
a license and speeding.
•Emilio Bedolla Lorenzo, 44,
200 Silvan Drive, Atlanta, DUI,
driving without a license, driving
with an expired tag and alteration
of a tag. The arrest was made after
an officer spotted Lorenzo’s vehi
cle facing north in the southbound
emergency lane of Interstate 85
where he had gone off the road
and spun the car 180 degrees.
•Samuel Eugene Bonds,
57, 2222 Crossing Place, Steve
Reynolds Industrial Parkway,
Commerce, DUI and following
too closely after an accident on
Ila Road at U.S. 441.
•Stephen Lance Benton, 23,
1225 Shiloh Fort Lamar Road,
Danielsville, driving while a
habitual violator, defective equip
ment and driving an unregis
tered vehicle. The officer pulled
Benton over after noting that his
vehicle had no front bumper, the
front parking lights were hanging
down and he was weaving in the
roadway, according to the arrest
report. The officer ran the tag
of the vehicle and found that it
returned to a different vehicle;
also that Benton’s license had
been suspended multiple times.
A search allegedly produced a
small amount of marijuana and
a pipe with marijuana residue,
but there was no indication
Benton was charged with a drug
offense.
•Charles Randall Haggard, 57,
193 Prospect Road, Colbert, no
insurance and failure to use head
lights during a rain.
Pair Of Thefts Reported On Wildcat Lane
The Commerce Police
Department investigated two theft
reports at Wildcat Lane address
es. Wildcat Lane is located in the
Belmont Park subdivision.
The first was a case of breaking
into an auto. A 43-year-old white
female told police that she discov
ered someone had entered her
car, damaging her sunroof and a
door in the process.
Although they did not gain full
access to the vehicle, they were
able to steal $400 in cash, two
checks worth $190, two check
books and 15 to 20 credit cards.
The woman called the officer
later to tell him she had discovered
that the thief got her garage door
opener and the keys to an old
Mercedes Benz in the garage. The
report said the officer advised her
to cancel the credit cards, change
the door opener code and change
the locks on the Mercedes.
The second incident was a bur
glary.
The victim reported noticing
dirt under a bedroom window
and discovering the back door
unlocked. When she checked her
valuables, she reportedly discov
ered that several necklaces and
earrings were missing, along with
change from a piggy bank.
Other Reports
Other reports requiring atten-
tion by the police include:
•criminal trespass at an Old
Harden Orchard Road location,
where a white male told police
that three trash cans had been
knocked over in the street and
that his trash can had been sto
len.
•theft of $25 in gasoline from
the Flying J Travel Plaza, Maysville
Road, by an unknown person who
pumped it into a red PT Cruiser
and drove off toward Maysville.
•another theft of an unspec
ified amount of fuel from the
Flying J. The only information
given to police was that the fuel
was pumped into a white vehicle.
•a burglary at a Pine Street resi
dence. No details were available.
• a possible rape of a Commerce
Elementary School student off
campus. A school official report
ed that an investigation deter
mined that there was no rape.
•cruelty to children reported
at Fletcher Academy, where staff
summoned police after they dis
covered “severe” bruises on the
buttocks of a 2-year-old boy. The
boy’s mother told police that
his father had spanked him for
“acting out.” When the father
arrived, the boy greeted him
enthusiastically, and when the
officer asked him about how
hard he had hit the child, the
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father said he did not realize
he’d used that much force. The
Department of Family and
Children Services is investigat
ing the incident, and the father
has agreed to leave the home
while the case is investigated.
He will be allowed supervised
visitation while that occurs.
•recovery of a .25 caliber Raven
pistol, found by a member of the
Commerce Lions Club as the club
picked up litter along Homer Road
in conjunction with Keep Jackson
County Beautiful’s Adopt-A-Road
program. A check of the national
database determined that the gun
has not been reported stolen.
•a domestic disturbance at
a Heritage Hills apartment in
which a 26-year-old black female
said she and her husband argued,
he threatened to leave her and
began picking on two minor chil
dren. After she threw a spoon
at him, he allegedly grabbed her
and shoved her. The man told
police he was “kidding” about
moving out, confirmed that he
had harassed the children, said
his wife had hit him with a spoon
and denied shoving her.
•suicide threats and self-muti
lation at a Cotton Street resi
dence. The victim, whose injuries
were minor, agreed to go to BJC
Medical Center for a psychologi
cal evaluation.
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A man fleeing police in a sto
len car allegedly attempted to
run over a Commerce officer
trying to stop the chase.
According to an incident
report, city police were noti
fied of a chase coming their
way from Hall County, traveling
north on Interstate 85.
The officer positioned himself
at the exit ramp at Exit 147
(Maysville Road). Soon he saw
the suspect coming up the ramp
at a speed estimated at 80 miles
per hour. The officer was trying
to shepherd an elderly woman
safely off the ramp, he said, as
the suspect approached.
The officer reported that as
the suspect noticed the officer
holding a set of “stop sticks”
designed to puncture tires, “he
came toward me straight on
with his vehicle, attempting to
run over myself.”
The officer jumped out of the
way, but said the vehicle came
so close that he was momen
tarily “almost certain that the
subject had run over my feet
or legs.”
The suspect turned right on
Hwy. 98 and came through
Commerce, with a host of offi
cers in hot pursuit. He went to
the bypass, turned left and head
ed back to I-85, but a Georgia
State Patrol trooper caused him
to wreck near Banks Crossing
to end the chase.
The name of the suspect was
not in the report, but he report
edly faces numerous charges in
a number of jurisdictions.
One Of Area's Major
Meth Manufacturers
Gets 25 Years In Prison
A Gwinnett County man who
officials say ran a large-scale
methamphetamine production
industry was sentenced to 25
years in prison last week.
Randall Lane Scott, 49, of
Sugar Hill, was sentenced by
United States District Judge
William C. O’Kelley on charges
of manufacturing methamphet-
amine and storing chemicals
and equipment for the purpose
of manufacturing methamphet-
amine.
United States Attorney David
Nahmias said, “The evidence
showed that Scott had been
involved with meth lab opera
tions in Hall, Lumpkin, Jackson
and Cherokee counties, and had
taught others to manufacture
meth. It is also clear that Scott
and his associates were primar
ily responsible for a large num
ber of meth laboratories located
in Northeast Georgia. This sen
tence removes a very dangerous
teacher from our community.”
Scott was sentenced to 25
years in prison to be followed
by 10 years of supervised
release, and fined $2,000. He
was also ordered to pay $13,016
to the Drug Enforcement
Administration as compensa
tion for the cost of cleanup of
several methamphetamine man
ufacturing sites. Scott pleaded
guilty to the charges Oct. 31.
Judge O’Kelley also sentenced
Scott’s son, Jeremy Scott, 25,
to 10 years in prison to be fol
lowed by 10 years on super
vised release.
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