Oconee Blotter: Watkinsville mom forced at gunpoint to give son $5,000 check

The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office reported the following incidents:

JUVENILE DELINQUENTS: On July 16, Deputy Collin Worsham was dispatched to the swimming pool area of a residential neighborhood under construction on Shagbark Way off Rocky Branch Road. Massive damage was found two months earlier to the new swimming pool area and a security camera caught the images of six young males engaged in the spree of destruction. Doors were ripped off hinges and battered with bricks, while pipes, windows and other features were destroyed by the gang. The doors were also thrown into the pool. The six vandals arrived at the location on two golf carts. The video was turned over to investigators trying to identify the culprits. Damage was estimated at about $4,000.

DOG FOOD DISPUTE: On July 15, Sgt. Sonyia Wallace-Burchett was dispatched to Walmart after a customer called 911 to report she witnessed another customer assault a store employee. After the assault, the suspect fled, but he was followed by other customers who reported the man was leaving in a GMC Denali pickup. Deputy Seth McCart spotted the pickup on Georgia Highway 316 and made a traffic stop. He identified the suspect as a 73-year-old resident of Bogart. Deputies learned the man was trying to purchase a bag of dog food, but he disputed the price. The employee doubled checked the price and showed the man where the price was correctly labeled on the shelf. The suspect looked irritated, but the employee offered to take the food back. However, when he picked up the bag, he was assaulted. The sound of the man grasping the employee alerted the nearby customer who called 911. The store video shows the suspect putting his arm around the employee’s neck and back of his head. The man was transported to jail on a charge of simple battery. He was bailed out of jail about two hours later.

ROBBER TAKES CHECK: On July 16, Deputy Johnny Richards was dispatched to a home in Watkinsville, where a woman was robbed at gunpoint by her son. The 25-year-old man came into the house holding a pistol and demanding she give him $12,000. However, she became scared and wrote him a check for $5,000 and he left. Deputies plan to obtain arrest warrants for the suspect.

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PEDESTRIAN ARRESTED: On July 16, Deputy Lex Ogan was dispatched to investigate a complaint from a 38-year-old Bogart man who said a pedestrian was walking dangerously along the median on the Athens Perimeter. The man was located in the center median. The officer stopped and questioned him about his behavior. The man became uncooperative and Ogan could detect he was being deceptive about his identity. During the exchange, Ogan pulled his stun gun and ordered the man four times to lay on the ground. The man wouldn’t comply, so the stun gun was deployed. The man went to the ground. The pedestrian was later charged with giving a false name and failing to obey rules on the highway as it was off limits for pedestrian travel.

TWISTED TEXT: On July 20, five deputies were dispatched at about 10:30 p.m. to a disturbance in the parking lot of Epps Bridge Centre near the Oconee Connector, where a 17-year-old Jefferson resident was involved in an argument that stemmed from a text he sent to a 15-year-old girl. The suspect was attending a “truck meet,” where several lifted trucks and SUVs had gathered. Deputy Lex Ogan spoke to the teen, who had been drinking Twisted Tea. He smelled of alcohol and had bloodshot eyes. The teen explained he sent the girl a message demanding that he have sex with her or she would die. But he explained it was a joke and that he was playing like a jealous boyfriend. The girl told the deputy the teen had flirted with her in the past, but that the text scared her because she believed he was capable of killing her. She didn’t want to press charges, however, the girl’s mother told the deputy she wanted to press charges. The teen was charged with making a terroristic threat and his parents in Jefferson were contacted and informed of the situation.

DRUGS FOUND: On July 17, Deputy Lex Ogan was patrolling on Macon Highway when a check on a passing car showed the registration was not valid. After a traffic stop, the 37-year-old Madison man said he had recently purchased the car. The deputy learned the man was on probation in Morgan County for a methamphetamine conviction and he had signed a waiver to his Fourth Amendment right in regards to a search. However, the man denied signing such a waiver. Ogan confirmed the waiver and conducted a search of the car finding some glass pipes and a bag of meth that was hidden under a piece of trim that the deputy noticed was loose. The man was taken to jail.

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LEGO THEFT: On July 17, Deputy Doug Mattocks was dispatched to Walmart, where the loss prevention officer had detained three shoplifting suspects. The two 20-year-old men from Duluth, and a 19-year-old from Lawrenceville, were accused of shoplifting $394 in merchandise identified as a Lego set, and numerous trading cards including Pokemon cards.

TASER TAKEDOWN: On July 20, a dozen deputies were dispatched to a location off Friar Road, where a man had a gun and was threatening to harm himself. The standoff resulted in officers blocking traffic on nearby Simonton Bridge Road as a safety precaution. Chief Deputy Jeremy Wasdin arrived to negotiate with the man, who was arrested after Sgt. Daniel Ellis was able to get close enough to deploy a stun gun. The man was taken to a hospital before he was placed in jail.

HIT AND RUN: On July 21, Deputy Seth McCart responded to a call from a 59-year-old resident of Alpharetta who reported a hit and run crash. The man said he was driving on Highway 316 when his Ford Explorer was sideswiped by a Hyundai Veracruz. Both vehicles stopped, but the Hyundai driver didn’t speak English and he drove off. The driver who fled has been identified as a 30-year-old man, who was driving the Hyundai that belongs to a resident of Hope, Arizona.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Oconee Blotter: Teen high on Twisted Tea charged with terroristic text