Newspaper Page Text
The
Commerce News
JANUARY 21,2009
PAGE 6A
On The R ecord
Police Charge 3 With Battery
The Commerce Police
Department charged two
men and one woman with
battery following three
separate domestic incidents
during the past week.
Robert Obrain Barnett,
33, of 27 McArthur Street,
Commerce, was also
charged with criminal tres
pass and interfering with
a call for help, and was
held on a Barrow County
probation violation war
rant following an incident
Thursday.
According to the arrest
report, an officer respond
ing to the call found a
30-year-old white female
crying in the yard. She told
him she and Barnett had
gotten into an argument,
that he began breaking
things in the house, includ
ing a computer and a lamp,
knocked pictures off the
walls, grabbed and broke
her cell phone and when
she went into the kitchen
to call 911, he jerked the
phone out of the wall. The
officer said the woman had
scratches and bruises, and
upon entering the house,
he noticed all of the broken
and scattered items, plus a
large hole in the wall.
While he was there,
Barnett came back. The
report said he admitted that
the two argued and “things
went a little far."
A witness confirmed the
victim’s account of the inci
dent.
The case at a Ridgeway
Road residence two days
earlier was similar.
A 40-year-old Latino
female came to the police
department and described
how she entered the resi
dence and Juan Rivera, 47, of
P.O. Box 1605, Commerce,
was waiting for her behind
a door. He’d been drinking
all day and was angry, the
victim told police.
Rivera allegedly grabbed
her by the hair, dragged her
into the kitchen, reached
into her pocketbook and
got her phone, throwing it
out of her reach, then began
gouging her eyes with his
thumbs. The woman said
she screamed for help, and
when her sister arrived,
Rivera acted as if nothing
had happened — but threat
ened to break her nose if
she talked about the inci
dent.
He also ordered the vic
tim to get her sister’s car
keys and take him to his
mother’s house, threaten
ing to burn the car up in
the driveway if she refused.
Instead, the woman got the
keys, got into the car and
left the scene.
Rivera was charged with
battery and interfering with
a call for emergency help.
The officer referred the vic
tim to Peace Place, the bat
tered women’s shelter.
The third case involved
a mother and a daughter.
Police responded to 1323
Crossing Place, where
the officer encountered a
41-year-old white female
with bruises on her arms
and face. She told the offi
cer she’d been in an argu
ment with her 18-year-old
daughter, Erica Jean Coker,
over the use of her (the
mother’s) vehicle, particu
larly because she’d not
returned home when she
was supposed to, arriving
at 5:15 a.m. with a man who
supposedly stole money
the daughter had hidden
under a mattress. The two
began to argue, the mother
said, and Coker eventually
hit her.
According to the incident
report, Coker said the mat
ter turned physical when
she asked her mother to
leave her room (the daugh
ter is the lease holder of the
apartment), the mother said
“Make me ... what are going
to do, hit me?’’
“So I did,’’ Coker allegedly
replied.
The officer charged Coker
with simple battery. At the
Jackson County Jail, Coker
said she felt sick and was
pregnant. When the jail
refused to accept her, the
officer took her to BJC
Hospital, where a pregnan
cy test was negative, the
report said, after which he
took her back to the jail.
Later, after Coker bond
ed out and returned to her
apartment, she called police
to report that someone had
broken the door to her
bedroom, which she’d left
locked. She also reported
the theft of $86 from under
her mattress.
Other Arrests
Others arrested or cited
during the past week
include:
• Stephen Robert Bunn,
21, 37 Ponderosa Road,
Talmo, possession of less
than an ounce of marijuana
and two outstanding war
rants. The arrests came after
his vehicle was pulled over
for a headlight violation.
•Ray Lafayette Hill, 46,
1530 Hwy. 164, Commerce,
possession of cocaine and
a brake light violation. He
was pulled over after an
officer allegedly saw him
leave a house known for its
drug sales, saw the brake
light violation and made the
traffic stop. The report said
Hill consented to a search
of the vehicle, and in the
pocketbook of Hill’s wife he
found silver pipe common
ly associated with crack
cocaine use. Elsewhere
in the vehicle, the officer
allegedly found a second
pipe and a glass bottle con
taining suspected cocaine.
The suspect and his wife
denied any knowledge of
the first pipe, and Hill told
police that the pipe and
drugs belonged to a black
male, the report said. Told
he and his wife would both
be charged with possession
of cocaine, the officer said
Hill claimed responsibility
for the drugs.
• Larry Edward Mintz,
49, 223 Woodbine Street,
Commerce, possession of
cocaine, giving false infor
mation to officers and
possession of drug-related
objects. He was charged
after an officer allegedly
found cocaine on him dur
ing a search incident to a
call to Cedar Drive for a dis
turbance. Mintz had given
the officer another name,
the report said, but the offi
cer learned his real name
when he found his wallet.
Charlie John Cowan, 36,151
Cedar Drive, Commerce,
was arrested at the same
time on a Jackson County
warrant.
•Eric Dustin Case, 17,
110 Steeplechase Road,
Nicholson, Matthew Kane
Luthi, 20, 9835 Commerce
Road, Lot 4, Athens, and
Christopher D. Saylors, 17,
397 Kesler Road, Nicholson,
all for criminal damage to
property after they alleg
edly broke windows out of
several vehicles at Haynes
Salvage Yard, Harris Street,
and set three brush fires.
Saylors was also charged
with obstruction of offi
cers.
•Kevin Dean Lee, 25, 653
Duncan Road, Commerce,
on a Jackson County war
rant after a traffic stop.
•Michael Terrell, 26, 3711
Atistides Lane, Decatur,
speeding and driving with a
suspended license.
•Andrew Joseph
Strickland, 19, 55 Homer
Road, Maysville, underage
possession of alcohol. The
clerk at the Fuel Mart, who
admitted selling Strickland
a 12-pack of beer without
asking for identification,
was charged with selling
alcohol to a minor. He was
identified as Azadul Islam,
42, of 3170 Mary Todd Lane,
Decatur.
Two Men Charged In Separate Stabbing Incidents
An Athens man was
stabbed during a dispute on
Fuller Road near Jefferson
last week, according to an
incident report filed at the
Jackson County Sheriff’s
Office.
When a deputy went to
the scene, he found a man
who had been stabbed in
the road. John Byrd, 165
Fuller Road, Jefferson, who
allegedly stabbed him was
in a nearby home. Byrd,
28, said it was self-defense.
He was charged with aggra
vated assault.
In another report, two
Nicholson brothers got into
an dispute over clothes at
a Jennings Lane residence
and one of the men stabbed
the other. Frank Lee Sewell,
21, was charged with
obstruction of an officer,
aggravated assault and vio
lation of the family violence
act for allegedly stabbing
his 17-year-old brother on
his left arm. The victim was
treated and released from
an Athens hospital.
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Police Take
$ 10K Cash Stash
Off Interestate 85
A South Carolina man
will have to talk to the fed
eral government to recover
money he claimed he kept
under the console of his
vehicle for safe keeping.
It didn’t turn out to be
that safe, because when
the Commerce Police
Department pulled Steven
Louis Gilliam, 35, of 2217
Aleaf Terrace, Spartanburg,
over in a northbound lane
of Interstate 85 Thursday
morning for a window
tint violation, they found
$10,480 wrapped in units
of $1,000.
“He claimed it was pay
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does, and gets paid cash
for,’’ said Chad Knight,
head of the city’s Criminal
Investigation Unit.
Gilliam declined the
officers’ request to search
the vehicle, but the depart
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on the vehicle, providing
the probable cause neces
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said officers found a small
amount of marijuana as
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The suspect has a prior
conviction for traffick
ing marijuana in South
Carolina, Knight said.
“He came up here wanting
his money back, saying we
stole it from him,’’ Knight
reported. “We told him the
money had been deposit
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had been sent to the FBE,
who handles our currency
investigations. Somebody
from the U.S. Attorney’s
Office will determine if it
was linked to illegal drugs.’’
2 Cases Of Criminal
Trespass Reported
Commerce police investi
gated two cases of criminal
trespass during the week.
One was at Fred’s, South
Elm Street, where some
one broke into vending
machines and removed
approximately $50 worth
of change.
The other was at the cor
ner of Central Avenue and
State Street, where some
one damaged a city flower
bed. A witness told police
that a truck belonging to
the company working on
the signal light upgrades
in Commerce had been
parked at the scene.
Other incidents report
ed during the past week
include:
• an attempted suicide at
a South Elm Street apart
ment where a 52-year-old
white male took a large
amount of blood pres
sure medicine. Alerted by
a family member, police
kicked in the door, found
him unresponsive and had
him transported to BJC
Hospital.
•a burglary at an Old
Maysville Road residence
where a 77-year-old black
female said that upon
returning after running
errands she found $20
missing from her bed and
$5 in change taken from a
tray. Entry was apparently
through an unlocked front
door.
•theft of $25.91 worth of
gasoline from Fuel Mart.
Other than the fact that the
vehicle was a white SUV,
there was no other infor
mation.
•a report of a missing
juvenile from a Williford
Street address. The
16-year-old white male left
Saturday after an argument
with his grandmother and,
as of Monday, had not
been located. His father
speculated that the boy
was with his girlfriend in
Barrow County.
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