Newspaper Page Text
Commerce News
JUNE 11,2008- PAGE 7
Drug, Alcohol Cases Keep Police Busy
Half of the Commerce Police
Department’s arrests for the past
week involved drugs and/or alco
hol, including five persons cited
for driving under the influence
(DUI) of intoxicants.
Six cases involved illegal drugs.
That included the arrest of
Benjamin Gillespie Jr., 48, of 25
Bennett Street, Commerce, who
was arrested after an officer saw
him in a yard and knew there was
a warrant for his arrest.
The officer also knew that
Gillespie was prone to run and
tried to talk him out of fleeing, to
no avail, according to the arrest
report.
Upon catching him and hand
cuffing him, police allegedly recov
ered a white lip balm container
that had small amounts of both
powdered and crack cocaine.
They charged him with posses
sion of cocaine, violation of the
Georgia Controlled Substances
Act, possession of a tool for
the commission of a crime and
obstruction.
Others arrested or cited during
the past week include:
• Starlet Evelyn Fortner, 27,
146 Pine Street, Commerce, DUI-
drugs, misdemeanor possession
of alcohol, possession of prescrip
tion drugs not in the original con
tainer, possession of Schedule III,
IV or V drugs, driving with a sus
pended registration and driving
without a license. She was pulled
over after a lookout was placed
on her vehicle for erratic driving.
According to the arrest report,
she admitted taking prescrip
tion medications before driving.
Police also recovered 12 smoked
marijuana cigarettes and one un
smoked joint, and eight prescrip
tion bottles.
•Tracy Graham, 38, 110 B.
Wilson Road, Commerce, DUI-
drugs and impeding the flow of
traffic. The arrest came after an
officer observed her apparently
asleep at the wheel at the intersec
tion of Hwy. 98 and U.S. 441. The
suspect allegedly admitted taking
four Methadone and one Prozac
prior to driving.
•Timothy Michael Swain, 26,
1209 Sycamore Road, Kinston,
NC, misdemeanor possession of
marijuana.
•William Carter Taylor, 36, 404
Lucerne Drive, Spartanburg, SC,
DUI and failure to maintain a
lane.
•Jason Lamar Shelton, 32,
2360 West Broad Street, Apt. L6,
Athens, DUI, failure to maintain
a lane and violation of the open
container law.
•Jonathan Demond Beasley, 23,
580 Homer Road, DUI-alcohol
and violation of the noise ordi
nance. It was the latter charge
— stemming from his radio — that
attracted the officer’s attention.
•Tina Lynn Coleman, 38, 168
Highland Estates, Commerce,
possession of a tool for the com
mission of a crime, theft by conver
sion and violation of the Georgia
Controlled Substances Act. She
was apprehended at Fred’s, South
Elm Street, where staff claimed
she shoplifted. Police found a
single propoxyphene tablet and
two syringes with white residue in
her purse, the arrest report said.
•Tyrus Duran Cornish, 30, 127
Pine Avenue, Commerce, posses
sion of cocaine and a warrant
for probation violation. He was a
passenger in a vehicle the officer
pulled over because he recog
nized Cornish and knew of the
warrant. The cocaine was found
during a search at the Jackson
County Jail.
•John Cameron Bostick, 47,191
Lewis Circle, Commerce, shop
lifting. He allegedly wheeled a full
grocery cart out of Ingles without
paying. Police recovered six “suit
cases” of beer and three bottles
of Tide at a Pine Street residence
where a witness claimed Bostick
had told her to hide the items
in her house and vehicle shortly
before police arrived. According
to the arrest report, he is also a
suspect in a similar case at the
Jefferson Kroger.
• Gordon Daniel Wright, 42,155
Applewood, Fruita, CO, driving
with a suspended license, improp
er U-turn and improper stopping
in the roadway.
•Daniel Alberto Ochoa, 42,
240 Elizabeth Street, Commerce,
arrested on a Hall County war
rant for failure to appear after
being pulled over for a traffic
violation.
•Patrice Janelle Adams, 19,
310 Spratlin Drive, Jefferson,
on an unspecified warrant from
River dale.
•Greg Louie Pierce, 35, 534
Groaning Rock Road, Commerce,
battery and disorderly con
duct after he allegedly attacked
his estranged wife at Video
Warehouse.
•Mack Arthur Hardeman, 45,
394 Cedar Drive, Commerce,
simple battery after he alleged
ly entered the apartment of a
32-year-old black female, warned
that he would “get her one way
or another” and struck her in the
mouth.
•Hendry Ledara Watson, 31,
2059 Hwy. 441, Homer, probation
violation.
•Faustino Nino-Luna, 21, 1066
Hwy. 85, Senoia, driving without
a license.
•Timothy Shane Ayers, 39,
993 Reno Road, Royston, driv
ing with a suspended license. He
was pulled over on a windshield
violation after an officer saw him
leave a house known for the sale
of drugs.
•Delores Y. Palmer, 54, 304
Woodpecker Lane, Nicholson, no
insurance and driving with a sus
pended registration.
Victim' Of Alleged Assault Sold Bicycle To Raise Funds For Dmg Purchase
The Commerce Police
Department investigated a pair of
assaults during the past week.
A 45-year-old black male flagged
down an officer to complain that
some people at a Homer Road
mobile home park “had his shirt
and he wanted it back,” according
to the incident report.
As it turned out, the “victim” was
the one who’d caused the trouble
— allegedly stealing a bicycle and
selling it to finance a drug pur
chase. The residents where the
incidents took place said they
asked the man to leave, at which
time he’d showed a knife in a
threatening manner.
The officer noted that the man
disappeared at about that point.
The same person turned up on the
arrest report in another case.
Other incidents requiring police
include:
• Battery at a South Broad
Extension location where a car
nival employee claimed that when
he tried to get his boss to pay him,
the man kicked him off the steps
of his RV.
•An animal complaint on Pine
Street, where a 66-year-old white
male reported that two dogs kept
eating his cat’s food and barking
at him. The officer issued a cita
tion to the owner of one dog and
captured another, which was a
stray.
Five Charged With
Break-In At City's
Reservoir Pump Station
The Banks County Sheriff’s
Office charged five people with
criminal trespass after they
allegedly broke into the raw
water pump station at the city
reservoir Monday.
Banks County deputies and
Commerce police officers were
called to the scene after a water
plant employee noticed that the
security system indicated an
intrusion at the pump station.
When Commerce police
arrived, they found the employ
ee with five people sitting out
side the pump station, which
takes water from the city reser
voir and pumps it uphill to the
treatment plant.
The suspects range from a
juvenile to age 21. They include:
• Kevin Nathan Carter, 17, 116
Hillcrest Street, Commerce
•Kevin Lee Burr, 21, Water
Plant Road, Commerce
• Kalum Shane Hart, 17, Water
Plant Road, Commerce
• Sharee Rosalee Lunsford, 18,
Water Plant Road
Major Kyle Bryant of the
Banks County Sheriff’s Office
said the suspects scaled two
fences and broke the lock off
the pump station door.
Asked what the suspects
intended to do, Bryant said that
remained unclear.
“They said they were there to
watch the sunrise. Obviously,
that’s not what they were doing,”
Bryant said.
One of the suspects had
removed a fire extinguisher from
its position, but it is unclear
whether he planned to take it or
use it, officials said.
“It could have created havoc
if they’d released the fire extin
guisher on the electrical con
trols,” noted Bryan Harbin,
the city’s director of water and
sewer operations. “It could have
cost the city tens of thousands
of dollars plus we would have
lost the water system.”
Such a move might also have
injured the suspects.
“There probably would have
been an electrical explosion,”
Harbin predicted.
Bryant said alcohol appar
ently did not play a role in the
incident.
City officials at first feared
that the incident was an attack
on the water system. That no
longer appears to be the case.
However, there is still some pos
sibility that federal charges could
result under the Homeland
Security Act.
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