Newspaper Page Text
Commerce News
APRIL 2,2008 - Page 7
Commerce Police Department Arrests
Commerce Police Department Incidents
UGA Students Get Hands-On Education
Experience From Commerce Police Dept.
Three University of Georgia
students got a little hands-on
education in Commerce during
the past week, according to a
couple of arrest reports from the
Commerce Police Department.
Two of the suspects appeared to
believe that their membership in
the Bulldog Nation would result
in special treatment, according
to one report.
Police were summoned to a
Clayton Street location at about
4:00 a.m. to investigate “two sus
picious white males," the report
said, and there they encountered
John Thomas Churney, 20, of
536 Miles Patrick Road, Winder,
and Clayton James Warder, 18, of
1450 Natchez Way, Grayson.
Officers noticed right away that
the two were “extremely nervous"
and that their jacket and pants
pockets bulged, so they asked
the two to empty their pock
ets, which turned out to contain
tools and a flashlight, the report
indicated.
Warder, the report said, told
police that the two planned to
steal a Neighborhood Watch
sign, and informed them that
both were University of Georgia
students “as if he were offering
that as a defense," the officer
writing the report noted.
One of the suspects reportedly
told the officers “I have heard
about things like this happening
before and the people just got a
warning and got let go," as they
were “young and stupid.”
That line of reasoning didn’t
go well with the officers, who
observed that neither of the two
seemed to think they’d done any
thing wrong.
One of the officers asked
Warder if they’d planned to steal
the Clayton Street sign, as his
first name was Clayton. The sign
had been removed and was in a
ditch nearby.
The report said both suspects
again pointed out that they were
UGA students “as if it were a
defense or somehow admon
ished them of responsibility," the
report said.
The police also noted that the
tag on Churney’s vehicle was
concealed with cardboard.
Both were charged with theft
by taking, criminal interference
with government property, and
loitering and prowling. Churney
was charged with use of a license
plate to conceal the identity of a
vehicle. The report said the offi
cer planned to notify the UGA
judiciary of the charges.
Suspect Would
Prefer A Beating
In the other case involving a
UGA student, police charged
Jorge Luis Giraldez, 20, of 6135
Joybrook Road, Duluth, with driv
ing under the influence (DUI),
driving with an expired tag, no
insurance, driving with a suspend
ed license, driving too fast for
conditions and failure to obey the
“move over law," which is what got
police interested in him.
According to the arrest report,
an officer was backing up anoth
er Commerce officer on a traffic
stop on the northbound lane
of the bypass when a vehicle
passed within three feet of him,
having failed to move over or
slow down for police.
The officer gave chase and
pulled Giraldez over. A comput
er check reportedly indicated
the license and tag violations,
and the officer noted the smell of
alcohol about the suspect.
According to the report,
Giraldez told the officer he was
a UGA student “and couldn’t get
into any trouble," and he denied
drinking and refused to take a
field sobriety test.
During a search incident to the
arrest, the officer said he found a
“bowl" commonly used to smoke
marijuana concealed in Giraldez’s
sock, and the suspect said he did
not know it was there.
The officer also said Giraldez
begged the officer to hit him. “If
I would just beat him and let him
go, he would learn his lesson, as
he learns better from beatings,"
the officer wrote. On the way to
the Jackson County Jail, the sus
pect allegedly asked the officer
“what he would have to do to get
me to shoot him."
Officer Fails To
Recognize ‘Minister’
The suspect came outside at
about 4:30 a.m. in his underwear
to explain to police about the
drunk woman in the back of his
car. That was his first mistake.
His second was insisting that
police leave to the point that the
officer charged him with obstruc
tion and public drunkenness.
According to the incident
report, police responded to a
Willow Street address early one
morning because of a report of a
drunk woman. There, they found
Jennifer Deann Booth, 26, of RO.
Box 475, Danielsville, in the back
of a car. However, the report said
Booth gave a different name and
date of birth, and officers were
trying to learn her identity when
Craig Elvin Campbell, 27, of 511
Ferndale Court, Hull, came out
side the residence.
Campbell told the officers he
was a youth minister and had
“knew" the arresting officer from
church, the officer reported. The
officer replied that he did not
know the man.
“This appeared to anger the
white male," the officer wrote.
The report said Campbell told
police they could leave and the
woman would be taken home,
to which the officers responded
that this could happen once they
knew her identity. One of the
officers ordered Campbell to go
back inside the residence, and
the other officer escorted him to
the house.
The other officer reported that
the female admitted being drunk
and said she got in an argu
ment with the other people in the
house, and finally admitted her
real name after the officer got it
from Campbell.
The backup officer reported
that as he took Campbell into the
house, Campbell continued to
insist that the police should leave.
Smelling alcohol on Campbell
and tiring of the argument, the
officer placed him under arrest.
Booth was charged with giving
false information to police, while
Campbell was cited for public
drunkenness and obstruction of
officers.
Other Arrests
Others arrested or cited during
the past week include:
•Edgar Garcia Herrera, 32,185
Garnett Ridge Drive, Athens,
picked up at Barrow Medical
Center from Loganville Police
on a local warrant for failure to
appear. He was released after
paying a fine.
•Paul Kenneth Goodrich, 37,
50 Preston Court, Commerce,
battery, interfering with calls for
emergency assistance and child
cruelty. The charges stemmed
from a domestic incident in
which he allegedly punched his
wife in the face out of anger fol
lowing an argument.
•Shawn Lamon Lott, 27, 1740
Keenland Place, Lawrenceville,
arrested on a felony probation
violation warrant for aggravated
assault from Gwinnett County
after the vehicle in which he was
a passenger was pulled over for
speeding.
• Davey Tyler Adcock, 30,3369
Glass Road, Monroe, arrested on
two probation violation warrants
from Monroe. He was a passen
ger in a vehicle pulled over for a
seat belt violation.
•Juan Francisco Flores, 26,245
Lake Road, Athens, battery, pub
lic drunkenness and interference
with the control of a vehicle. The
charges came after an officer
attempted to pull a vehicle over
at 3:47 a.m. on the bypass and
saw the passenger strike the driv
er in the head, according to the
incident report. The report said
Flores had struck the 26-year-old
white female driver in the face,
causing her vehicle to swerve
badly. The officer said Flores
was intoxicated and did not
know what had happened. The
woman had picked up Flores,
with whom she had lived at a
previous time, in Athens and was
taking him to her apartment near
Banks Crossing when the inci
dent occurred.
•WaymonTerrel Bonds, 53,127
Woodbine Street, Commerce,
battery and criminal trespass
following an argument with a
woman during which he broke
several pieces of furniture.
•Robert Joseph Fields, 44, 111
Ervin Chambers Road, Maysville,
driving with a suspended license.
The charges came after he was
pulled over for a tag violation.
Banks County Sheriffs Office Announces Arrests
HOMER - Among the arrests
reported to the Banks County
Sheriff’s Office last week are the
following:
•Latasha Nicole Bonds, 28, 315
Jockey Club Drive, Athens, theft
by shoplifting.
• Samuel Curtis Elmore, 27,4908
Historic Homer Highway, Alto, bat
tery (Family Violence Act), cruelty
to children (second degree) and
interference with a 911 call.
•Edward Mann Garrett, 43,
Hwy. 51 South, Homer, probation
violation.
•Kristie Ann Griffin, 21, 123
Jones Chapel Shiloh Road,
Danielsville, theft by shoplifting.
•Larry Steven Grogan, 37, 439
Thompson Street, Homer, DUI
(drugs) and headlight violation.
• Stacey Carol Gutierrez, 39, 415
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AJ. Irvin Road, Talmo, theft by
shoplifting.
• Samantha Faye Harris, 22,1073
Harris Lord, Commerce, disorder
ly conduct.
•Tracy Jo Hernandez, 31, 240
Brookwood Avenue, Commerce,
theft by shoplifting.
•Kevin Lee Martinez, 22, 125
Indian Village Trail, Maysville, driv
ing with a withdrawn license and
giving false information to an offi
cer.
•Joey Neal McDonald, 36, 179
McDonald Drive, Commerce,
simple battery.
•Elijah Wayne Minish, 20, 592
Morris Garden Road, Maysville,
battery (Family Violence Act).
• Scotty Terrell Whitfield, 35,150
Harden Bridge Road, Commerce,
probation violation.
Fareha Rahim, MD
Internal Medicine
We are now located at our new office at
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Commerce, Georgia 30529
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Welcome To Commerce:
Ingles Suffers First
Case Of Gasoline Theft
The new gas station at Ingles
reported its first gas theft case
this past week, one of seven
theft-related incidents worked
by the Commerce Police
Department.
Details were skimpy, but the
clerk reported that someone
pumped $59.50 into a vehi
cle and left without paying.
However, the clerk indicated
to police that the suspect is a
regular shopper with the gro
cery store.
Other Incidents
Other incidents requiring
police attention during the
past week include:
• the recovery of a computer
reportedly stolen a year ago
in Athens by a Cotton Street
man. The 25-year-old white
male told police he paid $50
for the computer from a black
female, and got to thinking that
$50 seemed to be an unusu
ally good deal for a device he
estimated to be worth $3,000.
The man said when he booted
up the computer, he found it
to be registered to an Athens
man. He told police he con
tacted the man, who reported
it had been stolen a year ago.
The police were not able to
find the computer listed on the
Georgia Crime Information
Center’s database of stolen
goods and are awaiting word
from Athens-Clarke police.
•theft of $240 worth of yard
tools from a truck parked at
a Maysville Road business.
The 40-year-old white male
who reported the theft said he
came to work and noticed the
rear side doors of the vehicle
open.
•theft of a purse at a doc
tor’s office on Hospital Road.
The victim, a 64-year-old white
female, told police that she
left her pocketbook on the
floor next to her husband
when she went in to see the
doctor, and when she came
out it was gone. Her husband,
the report said, was unaware
she’d left the pocketbook and
went outside and sat in his car,
during which he observed a
woman leaving the office with
a pocketbook that looked like
his wife’s, but didn’t give it
much thought. The office staff
was able to provide a name
of a suspect. The pocketbook
contained a credit card, bank
card, checkbook and driver’s
license.
•theft of $40 worth of gaso
line from the Flying J Travel
Plaza, Maysville Road. The
only lead police have is that
the vehicle into which the gas
was pumped might have been
a red truck.
•theft of services reported
by a Duluth cab driver who
said when it came time to pay
a $135 fare, the white male
passenger fled behind the BP
store on South Broad Street.
He gave police the man’s
driver’s license, which listed
the suspect as a 47-year-old
white male from Greenville.
Police said the man also has a
Commerce address.
•a break-in at Jackson
County Creative, Industrial
Parkway, where someone
broke out a window. It was not
clear if the suspect entered
the building as nothing was
noticed to be missing.
•damage to property at
Ingles, Hwy. 334, by a 22-year-
old black female who said
someone struck her vehicle
while she was shopping, caus
ing moderate damage to the
rear passenger side.
•simple battery at a Martin
Luther King Jr. Drive residence
where a 30-year-old black
female said she was talking to
a younger black male about a
phone she had sold him when
the man’s mother drove up
and said, “Bitch, what about
the phone? I will beat your
ass," after which she slapped
the victim.
• check forgery at Fuel Mart,
where a black female and
black male tried to cash a
check. The business named on
the check was not in the state
database, the report noted.
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