Newspaper Page Text
Commerce News
MAY 28,2008 • PAGE 7
Nude Driver At Flying J
Highlight Of CPD's Week
A little drugs, a little drunk driv
ing, some thefts and a handful of
warrants — it was pretty much a
routine, if busy, past week for the
Commerce Police Department.
Officers recorded three felo
ny drug arrests and five drunk
driving charges during the past
week.
And then there was the nude
motorist at the Flying J auto plaza
on Maysville Road.
The officer was conducting a
routine patrol behind the build
ing when he observed a vehicle
parked with a lone male occu
pant that, when the officer
approached, attempted to leave.
The officer requested that he
stop. That’s when he noticed that
the driver was nude.
He also observed that there was
a Crown Royal bottle on the pas
senger seat — along with “nude
books’’ and a bottle of lotion.
The officer charged Dempsey
Joe Charpia, 52, 1695 Lake
Heights Circle, Dacula, with pub
lic indecency and driving under
the influence (DUI) of alcohol.
He also had another officer
come by and take photos.
Drug Arrests
Roger Sims, 50, of 104 Woodbine
Street, Commerce, had the mis
fortune of catching the attention
of a couple of officers driving
when he was attempting to light a
cigarette, saw the officers, hastily
put his hands down and turned
his head — making them think he
did not want to be identified.
Naturally, they stopped to
check it out and, according to
their written report, Sims took
off running.
The fleet of foot cops caught
him, took him to the ground,
searched him and found a metal
pipe commonly used to smoke
crack cocaine.
Things got worse for Sims at
the jail, where jail personnel con
ducting a search allegedly found
a marijuana cigarette, several
“rocks’’ of crack cocaine and a
bag of powdered cocaine in his
clothing.
The police charged Sims with
possession of crack cocaine, pos
session of powdered cocaine,
misdemeanor possession of
marijuana, possession of a tool
for the commission of a crime,
obstruction and found that he
had outstanding probation viola
tion warrants out from the Banks
County Sheriff’s Office and the
Commerce Police Department.
Other Arrests
Others arrested during the past
week include:
•David Wayne Hembree, 27,
795 Berea Road, Commerce, pos
session of morphine and drugs
out of the original container;
Joseph Kevin Hanson, 38, 339
Spring Street, Commerce, DUI
and an improper lane change;
and Valerie Elaine Vandeford,
38, 795 Berea Road, Commerce,
drugs out of the original contain
er. They were all charged after an
officer observed Hembree drive
into a convenience store park
ing lot with a passenger who
appeared to be unconscious. The
officer observed that the passen
ger never moved the whole time
Hembree was in the store and as
Hembree talked to other people
outside. The officer followed the
vehicle as it left and pulled it over
on a traffic charge. He noted
that Hembree was “very much
under the influence of some
thing,’’ and Hembree told him
he was driving because his pas
senger, Hanson, and Hanson’s
girlfriend, Vandeford, had come
over to his place and “popped
some pills.’’ The woman, he said,
was passed out on his couch,
and he’d driven to the store to
call his wife and warn her that
she’d find the woman there when
she came home from work. A
search of the vehicle turned up
22 morphine pills, according to
the report. The officer went back
to Hembree’s residence, where
he found Vandeford.
•Harry James McIntosh Jr„ 26,
317 Rucker Road, Jefferson, DUI,
failure to maintain a lane and
improper stopping on the road
way. The officer was summoned
to an apartment complex on Mt.
Olive Road for a potential drunk
driver. Upon entering the Mt.
Olive Townhomes complex, the
officer spotted the vehicle and
said McIntosh was in the driver’s
seat with both legs sticking out
of the window. When he saw the
officer, the report said, he exited
the vehicle. The officer said he
noted the smell of alcohol and
glazed eyes of the suspect, who
denied drinking and later even
denied driving the vehicle — only
to admit to another officer that he
had indeed been driving.
•Steven Chadwick Sears, 31,
90 Sunny Lane, Commerce, DUI
and driving without a seat belt.
The charges came after Sears was
involved in a traffic accident.
•Jason Alan Martin, 25, 1176
J. Warren Road, Cornelia, DUI,
improper U-turn and failure to
maintain a lane. The report said
he told the officer he’d had “not a
drop’’ to drink, yet he blew a .141
on the Alcosensor at the county
jail.
•Jared Mandela Palmer, 18,304
Woodpecker Lane, Nicholson,
on an unspecified warrant from
the police department.
•Reynaldo Simon Roberio,
33, 5355-L New Peachtree Road,
Chamblee, driving without a
license and failure to yield to a
funeral procession. He presented
police with a Guatamalan driver’s
license.
• Donovan Michael Hannah,
18, 2385 Ryewood Court, Duluth,
misdemeanor possession of mari
juana. He was a passenger in a
vehicle pulled over for a traffic
violation.
•Derrick Deon Vaughan, 35,
11 Madinah Trail, Commerce,
picked up from Cobb County on
a city warrant.
•Margaret Anwinna Viers, 48,
925 Wolfskin Road, Arnoldsville,
picked up from Clarke County
on an unspecified warrant and
released after she paid her fine.
•Rome Jefferson Manus, 51,
254 Wilson Cemetery Road,
Commerce, criminal trespass. He
was captured on video breaking
the locks off 11 dryers at Speed
Queen Laundry Mat, Washington
Street. The owner told police
he’d done the same thing before.
According to the report, Manus
said he broke the locks to get
money to buy food.
•James Williamson, 59, 110
Jackson Hill Apts., A4, Commerce,
picked up on a failure to appear
warrant from Banks County.
•Ruben Baez-Cardenas, 22,
2410 Hwy. 334, Commerce, driv
ing without a license and a wind
shield violation.
•Joseph Thomas Caldwell, 54,
317 McGinnis Chandler Road,
Commerce, arrested on a Jackson
County warrant for a bad check
after he was stopped for a lane
violation.
• Foster Daniel, 50,179 Mission
Drive, Athens, disorderly con
duct after an altercation in
Brentwood Estates when he alleg
edly demanded at 3:00 a.m. that
his sister take him to the ATM “to
get his money.’’
City Police Investigating Alleged Rape
The Commerce Police
Department is investigating an
alleged rape.
The victim, a 32-year-old black
female, told police that a 38-year-
old black male forced her into
the woods near the city pond off
Carson Street and raped her.
While the officer was investigat
ing the scene, the suspect drove
by, according to the officer’s writ
ten report. The officer flagged
him down and reported that the
man said he’d been in Athens at
the time of the rape and offered
to submit a DNA sample.
The police took the sample.
They also took the clothes the
victim was wearing at the time to
search for forensic evidence.
Other Incidents
Other incidents reported during
the past week include:
•two 14-year-old white male
juveniles found at the Fast &
Friendly convenience store, Ila
Road, by an officer on patrol at
3:00 one morning. The officer
was familiar with one of them,
and took both back to that boy’s
grandfather’s house, as the grand
father is his guardian.
• theft of a purse from an
unlocked car at Ingles. A 19-year-
old white female said she left it in
the vehicle and forgot to lock the
car as she went to work.
• second degree forgery report
ed by a white female who alleged
that someone cashed a $350
refund check written to her by a
local automobile dealership.
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Firemen and rescue workers remove David Loggins died from injuries sustained in the
Loggins, 48, from the wrecked feed truck, wreck. Photo by Mark Beardsley
Truck Wreck Kills One On 1-85
A Gainesville man died
Thursday when a truck carrying
chicken feed crashed down an
embankment on Interstate 85.
The Georgia State Patrol said
David Loggins, 48, a passenger
in the vehicle, was killed. The
accident, which occurred near
the 148-mile marker (between
Hwy. 98 and U.S. 441), shut
down the northbound lane of
traffic from about 9:30 a.m. until
after 3:00 p.m. as officials cleared
the accident.
The driver of the truck was also
injured. The State Patrol did not
release his name.
According to a Commerce
police officer who witnessed
the accident, a northbound pas
senger vehicle swerved into the
path of the 18-wheeler, forcing
the driver off the road to avoid a
collision.
Commerce police stopped the
vehicle that allegedly caused the
accident, according to Officer
William Thomas. Charges against
its driver could follow pending
the outcome of the State Patrol’s
investigation.
Thomas, en route to back up
another Commerce officer at a
traffic stop just ahead of the acci
dent, said he captured the acci
dent on his in-car video system.
Deputies Announce 20 Arrests
JEFFERSON - The Jackson
County Sheriff’s Office arrested
20 people last week, including
the following:
•Christopher Lee Aston, 44,
385 Hightower Trail, Jefferson,
possession of marijuana.
• Hans Jurgen Baroni, 35, 1684
Burnt Oak Court, Jefferson,
driving while license suspend
ed, expired tag, concealing iden
tification of a vehicle, no insur
ance, identity fraud, giving a
false name or address to a law
enforcement officer, obstruct
ing or hindering a law enforce
ment officer and no seatbelt.
•Diane Elizabeth Brotherton,
62, 136 Harmony Street,
Commerce, bad check.
•Jeffery Bernard Daniels, 37,
218 Ridgeway Church Street,
Commerce, bad check.
•Zachary Craig Daniels, 45,
149 Alberta Drive, Jefferson,
probation violation.
• Raymond Joseph Fulton, 44,
12 Chestnut Street, Griffin, pro
bation violation.
•Martin Douglas Gilbert, 49,
52 Highland Drive, Cartersville,
possession of marijuana and
drugs not kept in original con
tainer.
•Bobby Junior Hicks II, 39,
182 Edwin Reynolds Road,
Maysville, bad check.
•Robert Eugene Huff, 40, 23
Huff Hill Road, Commerce, pro
bation violation.
•Jeffery Brandon Hutchins,
24, 1090 Beau Rivage, Madison,
probation violation.
•Nathan Andrew Porter, 24,
1768 Harrison Bridge Road,
Royston, aggravated stalking.
•O.B. Ramsey, 60, 1936 Old
Athens Hwy., Gainesville, pro
bation violation.
•Charles Adam Snipes, 22,
1681 McNutt Court Road,
Bogart, possession of marijua
na.
•Jessica Lynn Wilson, 18, 449
Forest Lake Road, Pendergrass,
financial transaction card theft.
•Bravo Berdugo Galdino, 25,
32608 Hwy. 20, Gainesville,
speeding and no license.
•Helen Elizabeth Hayes, 32,
799 Sosebee Road, Talmo, pro
bation violation.
•James Richard Stockton, 45,
79 Harris Lane, Jefferson, pro
bation violation and child sup
port violation.
•Randall Marshall Clark, 39,
900 Bill Watkins Road, Hoschton,
aggravated stalking.
•David Leoncio Hiatt, 32, 301
Blackberry Lane, Pendergrass,
failure to appear.
•June Marie Kilgore, 31, 6165
Lollis Creek Road, Flowery
Branch, violation of the Georgia
Controlled Substances Act and
no proof of insurance.
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