View from the cop: Crime & punishment
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AJC.com > Metro > View from the cop > Archives > 2008 > November > 25
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Crime & punishment
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
People Who Make Us Look Normal
A restaurant employee said a man came into the restaurant on Mount Vernon Highway and sat down at a table designated for more than one person. The employee asked the man to please move to a smaller table, which he did.
The man ordered a couple of beers, a hamburger, a sundae, and a brandy. When it came time for the check, the server gave him the bill. The man then drew, with blue ink and a green crayon, a sixty-dollar bill. He then gave the just-made sixty-dollar bill to the server—and then asked for change. The server told the man he required actual money. The man then got up and ran out of the restaurant.
Robbery
A man reported that he stopped to pick up a hitchhiker (clue) around 8 p.m. The hitchhiker pulled a gun and forced the victim to drive to his bank and withdraw about $80 from the ATM. He then drove the man to Roswell and let him off at a service station near Holcomb Bridge Road.
One of the oldest and best pieces of advice you got when you started driving was “Never pick up a hitchhiker.” This is why.
Burglary
An apartment leasing manager reported someone stole a 42-inch television from the leasing office on Glenridge Drive. The side door to the office had been forced open.
The complainant said someone entered the home in the 700 block of Brook Park Place through a side-garage window, and then entered the kitchen. They took several appliances from the home and loaded them in a truck that they apparently backed up into or near the garage area.
Someone forced a window open and entered the victim’s apartment in the 8000 block of Roswell Road. The victim said a Playstation 3 video game system and two games were missing.
The victim’s front door was forced open. He found that two televisions were taken from the home on North Chambord Drive as well a laptop and printer. He also discovered they took his motorcycle.
Fraud, Forgery, and I.D. Theft
A man reported that someone went into his locker at the gym on Mt. Vernon Highway and took his keys. They went outside, found his car (alarm function) and then took his wallet and credit cards. They used the cards a short time later about three miles away at a retail store.
Although it’s a good point to leave your wallet out of the gym locker, these key thefts do occur occasionally. Even if you leave it in the car, find a good hiding spot where it would take a while to find it. For that matter, there’s a dozen places in your car you could hide small items like a credit card, where it would be extremely hard and time consuming to find them. Be creative.
Another option is to take the cards out and stash them in your pocket of your gym shorts. Buy the fancy gym shorts with the Velcro flat. I don’t know what you’re going to do in the shower (I’m not going there) but keep you eyes on those cards as much as you can.
Scam
We see this one just about monthly now.
A woman reported that she met a man while at a gas station on Roswell Road. The man asked for her phone number, which she gave him. They later went out. The man, who identified himself as the owner of a security company, said he had two out-of-town checks, each for $3,000. (clue)
He asked her to deposit the two checks and for her trouble, she could keep $700 from each. She did, and kept the $700 and gave him the rest. Soon, he asked her to do the same with a couple of $2.000 checks, which she did and kept the balance. The bank then contacted her and said the checks were fraudulent and did not clear. She called the man who told her that he would pay her back but later, he quit answering the phone. She’s out $4,430.
This is going on more and more. Large amount checks and the person telling you to keep a percentage is your clue this is a scam. Don’t fall for it.
