View from the cop: Crime & punishment
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AJC.com > Metro > View from the cop > Archives > 2007 > August > 03
Friday, August 3, 2007
Spot the Einsteins
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
No over-arching theme this week on the arrest report, just a number of Einsteins at work. See if you can spot them.
Burglary
Two men came to a home on North Hampton Drive, unsolicited, and talked to the homeowner, age 85, about doing some work on the home. One “repairman” asked the man and his wife to walk around the house while they talked, which left the other “repairman” unattended . The victim noted that the first “repairman” had a two-way radio and talked in code while they were walking. When they went back in the house, they saw the other “repairman” inside. The men then left. Lo and behold, later on the homeowners found that three guns and some jewelry were missing. We had a similar case to this about a month and a half ago.
Theft
Jared Michael Cain, age 23, from Atlanta was arrested for Entering Auto and Theft by Taking after officers were called to a fight. The complainant was Cain’s ex-girlfriend, who said that although he had not lived there in three months, he was going through her car. She said that he took items including her work ID and her security gate card, credit cards, and her license. The officer called Cain who came back to the location and returned the items.
Tiffany Shepard Smith, 34, from Doraville, and Richard Lewis Smith, 33, from Stone Mountain were arrested for Theft by Receiving Stolen Property (vehicle) after a patrol officer found them driving a stolen car in the parking lot of the Hilton Hotel. The car had been rented by Smith but was due back last March.
Felix Ramirez, age 22, from Sandy Springs was arrested after he was stopped by Kroger employees after placing several food items in a plastic bag and then attempting to leave without paying for the items. The officer asked Ramirez why he took the items, and he replied “Why not?”
Fraud
A woman desposited a check for more than $133,000 at a Wachovia Bank on Roswell Rod. It turned out to be a bad check. Police have a suspect under investigation.
A man said that he received a money order for $5,000 in the mail. He called the bank in question, First Western Bank of South Dakota, and learned the money order was fraudulent. The man was contacted on his business e-mail by someone from England, urging him to deposit the money order in his (the victim’s) bank account. This sounds like a variation of the con where the victim deposits the fake check into the account and immediately sends the bad guy a percentage of that amount before finding out the check was fake. Moral of the story: Always verify the check ASAP.
Arrests
Barbara Price Payne of Decatur was arrested for Possession of Cocaine after being stopped because the car tag on her Ford Focus was registered to a Dodge Ram truck. She said she put the tag on the car to conceal the expired tag on the Ford.
20-year old Montay D. Marshall of Roswell and 21-year old Brandon Cook, also from Roswell, were arrested for Disorderly Conduct-Loitering and Carrying a Concealed Weapon after a patrol officer found them loitering in front of a “No Loitering” sign in an area known for drug activity. The officers watched them for several minutes, then approached them and told them to stay where they were. One did, but the other one suddenly needed to go to the bathroom. He went into a nearby bathroom and discarded a BB gun.
