An Evans woman was arrested on New Year’s Eve for leaving her children at home alone to go drinking, authorities said.

Tina Ann Simoneau, 33, was arrested at 4 a.m. Thursday when she returned home drunk behind the wheel of her green Ford Ranger, according to a sheriff’s report. She was charged with two counts of child cruelty, DUI, failure to maintain lane and duty upon striking unattended vehicle.

The woman’s 11-year-old daughter called the sheriff’s office at two in the morning on New Year’s Eve to complain that her mother had left her and her 7-year-old brother at home to go drinking and had not returned. Deputies responded to the family’s home on Old Evans Road, where the daughter explained that her mother had left with friend Melissa Gotcher around 7 p.m. Wednesday to go to a bar and had not returned.

Even worse, the mother left her cell phone at home with the children, giving them no way to contact her. Authorities then began looking for Simoneau, checking with hospitals and jails without success. Dispatchers tried pinging Gotcher’s phone but the last ping was around 9:30 p.m. near Carolina Ale House, the sheriff’s report says.

DFACS officials were notified and had just arrived when Simoneau pulled up to the house at 4 in the morning. She was charged and taken to the Columbia County Detention Center.

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An Aiken County man was arrested after customers complained he was videotaping customers last week at the Evans Walmart, according to a sheriff’s report.

(This is one of many stories in this week’s Jail Report. Pick up your copy from a local gas station today!)

Customers said that the man was making them uncomfortable by standing around the fitting room area and videotaping random people, the report says.

“I’ll beat your a**,” he reportedly told a sales associate who told him to stop.

A sheriff’s report says the man became aggressive but finally exited the store when they told him a sheriff’s deputy was on his way.

Out in the parking lot, the responding deputy made contact with 26-year-old Alonzo Damon Mackey of Belvedere. The suspect agreed to let the deputy view his phone, but “he deleted a majority of the videos,” the report says.

The suspect was told not to return to the Walmart, and he was arrested for making terroristic threats.

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A woman who had apparently tired of arguing with her boyfriend early last Tuesday night pulled a knife from her shirt and sliced him on his left side and his palm.

(This is one of many stories in this week’s Jail Report. Pick up your copy from a local gas station today!)

Cindy Rearden, 30, of the 200 block of Motlove Drive, Graniteville, was arrested and charged with domestic violence, high and aggravated, a report from the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office said.

The victim told the responding deputy that Rearden had accused him of cheating on her. She then pulled a knife from under her and tried to stab him. She ended up cutting him instead, the report said.

The two, who do live together, were at the boyfriend’s Mullis Street home in Beech Island, the report said.

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Road rage is suspected in a shooting that left one man in critical condition Thursday night in Augusta.

Just after 11 p.m. Thursday, deputies responded to Gordon Highway and Old Savannah Road.

“Preliminary investigation revealed that the incident could be the result of road rage between drivers,” sheriff’s Sgt. Glen Rahn said in a press release. “During the incident, one of the drivers was shot and sustained gunshot wounds to the head and shoulder.”

The victim was transported to GRU Hospital, where he was listed in critical condition.

The suspect was taken into custody at the scene. The suspect was not identified. Stay tuned…

(For more crime stories, pick up this week’s Jail Report. Get your copy from a local gas station today!)

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A North Augusta man who shot six times at a pick-up truck in Augusta Thursday night and critically injured the driver will not be charged, authorities said.

Austin Dean Burch, 27, of North Augusta, was “justified in his actions,” sheriff’s Sgt. Glen Rahn said.

The gunfire struck 25-year-old Geoffrey B. Reavis in the head and shoulder and he’s being treated at GRU Hospital. (Reavis is pictured above and at right in images from Facebook. He recently moved  to Augusta from Henderson, N.C.)

Burch told deputies that the driver of a silver 1999 Ford Ranger pick-up truck was following him and kept trying to run his 2007 Dodge Ram 1500 off the road. He said the truck struck his vehicle twice.

“Burch stated he feared for his life, so he pulled out his firearm and discharged the weapon six times into the Ford Ranger,” a sheriff’s report says.

Reavis had a passenger in his vehicle, Christopher Kelley, who was not struck by the gunfire and was evaluated at the scene, authorities said.

Authorities took Burch (pictured at right from Facebook images) and the passenger Kelley to the Criminal Investigation Division to interview them. Investigators determined that Burch was justified in his actions and released him.

However, if Reavis survives his injuries, charges may be brought for his actions in this incident, Sgt. Rahn said.

“At the conclusion of this investigation the case will be sent to the District Attorney’s Office for further review,” he said.

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Lt. Lamkin, who has almost 20 years in law enforcement, currently serves as the head of the Traffic Safety Division of the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office.  Prior to coming to work for the Sheriff’s Office, he worked for the Georgia State Patrol as a Trooper and Assistant Post Commander.

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A homeless man threatened a sheriff’s deputy with media attention after the officer ordered him to stop soliciting for work at Market View Parkway in Evans.

A Columbia County deputy was called last Tuesday afternoon to a complaint about someone soliciting. The officer found Stanley Brown speaking with the drivers of two vehicles who had stopped in the roadway. One driver was giving the man money and the other was offering him a job, a sheriff’s report says.

The officer found out Brown and his wife Kimberly Cooper along with their two small children were homeless. Brown showed the officer a sign he had been holding, which said “my family is homeless will work for food.” The deputy advised Brown that he could not continue to stand on the side of the roadway and solicit for employment.

The deputy asked the couple for their IDs, which led the man to request the deputy’s name and badge number.

“Brown then stated I should expect a call from the news and also from the NAACP,” the sheriff’s report says. “Brown said he was a member of several NAACP organizations and that someone would be giving me a call.”

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An Augusta man was fatally shot outside a liquor store on Monday, marking the year’s first homicide.

No arrests have been made in the slaying of 34-year-old James J. Sims III of Augusta (pictured). He was shot outside Kissingbower Package Shop about 5:21 p.m. Monday, according to Deputy Coroner Kenneth Boose.

“Sims was shot at least one time in the torso,” Boose said in a press release.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Monica Belser released this statement: “We are at the scene of a shooting with a fatal injury at 1773 Kissingbower Rd. The Kissingbower liquor store.   The case is very early on and what led to the shooting is under investigation.  But deputies received a call of shots fired and upon arrival they discovered a b/m victim laying outside of the building on the north side of the property.  It doesn’t appear the business is directly involved at this point.”

According to Facebook friends, the victim was known as “Mel.”

Editor’s Note: If you have a better photo of victim or memories to share, please email it to publisher@thejailreport.com or text it to 803-487-3224.

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A local father is accused of bruising both of his child’s eyes at a Harlem residence after the child refused to go to sleep, authorities said.

(This is one of many stories in this week’s new issue of The Jail Report, sold in local gas stations.)

Jovan Coney, 29, was charged Thursday with battery under the Family Violence Act, and he was booked into the Columbia County Jail, according to authorities.

One of the suspect’s friends notified authorities that Coney and his son were staying with him in Harlem. The man noticed the Coney’s 4-year-old son had “several bruises under both eyes,” a sheriff’s report says.

The family friend asked the boy what happened to his face, and the child said that his dad had struck him in the face with his hand.

The friend called the sheriff’s office, leading to an investigation. Deputies observed several bruises under each of the boy’s eyes and one under his left ear.

Authorities say their investigation shows the bruises were caused when Coney became upset that the boy was refusing to go to sleep.

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These thieves used a woman’s credit card that was stolen from her car while she exercised at Planet Fitness in Martinez. Can you identify them?

According to the victim, she started out New Year’s Day with a evening trip to the gym on Bobby Jones Expressway.

When she returned from exercising about 10:45 p.m., she realized that someone had shattered the window on her 2013 Toyota Camry and stolen her wallet from the glove compartment.

The wallet contained two bank cards, her Social Security card and license.

Her bank told her that the card was used at the Circle K at 3934 Washington Road to charge $5, which is where this video footage came from.

If you know these individuals, please call the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office at 706-541-2800.

(For more crime stories, pick up this week’s new issue of The Jail Report, sold in local gas stations.)

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Investigators with the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office are investigating a dead body that was located Thursday in a wooded area off of the 4200 block of Trolley Line Road, Aiken.

A person contacted the Sheriff’s Office at 12:41 pm Thursday, advising he located a body while walking in the woods.  Deputies met with the person and located the body in the wooded area. The body has not been identified.

Investigators with the Sheriff’s Office, Aiken Department of Public Safety and the Aiken County Coroner’s Office responded.

Authorities say this is an ongoing investigation and the Sheriff’s Office is being assisted by Aiken Department of Public Safety.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office at 803-648-6811. Individuals may also call Crimestoppers of the Midlands: 888-CRIME-SC (888-274-6372). Callers can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a cash reward up to $1000.

(For more crime stories, pick up this week’s new issue of The Jail Report, sold in local gas stations.)

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A local judge has sentenced an Augusta child molester to just five years in prison for molesting two neighborhood girls and providing them with alcohol and pornographic videos.

Michael S. Story, 57, was given a plea deal by the District Attorney’s Office for two counts of sexual battery in return for the sentence, given by Judge Michael N. Annis. The deal reportedly was made to save the two victims from testifying, and it also included five years of probation. He already served two years in jail awaiting trial.

In return for the plea, here are the charges dropped by prosecutors: three counts of child molestation, four counts of furnishing alcohol to minors, one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and five counts of electronically furnishing obscene material to a minor.

His crimes. In 2013, deputies were called to a disturbance between a mother and her 16-year-old daughter on June 29. During the routine call, the teen told deputies that her neighbor had given her alcohol at least four times, placed his hands all over her body, showed her a dildo and described what he could do with it, and gave her four pornographic movies with instructions to watch them. He also asked the girl to “send him nude pictures of herself,” a report says.

The teen said Story had also given her 10-year-old brother alcohol at his residence.

Investigators also talked to a 13-year-old girl in the same neighborhood who said Story had touched her buttocks multiple times and hugged her “chest to chest” when no one else was around, a report says.

One of the victims also accused Story of providing her Xanax and making sure she took it in front of him, the report says.

(For more crime stories, pick up this week’s new issue of The Jail Report, sold in local gas stations.)

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District Attorney Ashley Wright has released a defense of this week’s probationary sentence for a couple connected to the death of Martinez infant Bentley Reeves.

Last summer, authorities said they believed a Martinez baby was intentionally suffocated by his mother’s boyfriend and filed murder charges in the death of the 6-month-old boy. Lexis Russell and boyfriend Jacob Harris were both charged with murder in connection with the death of the 6-month-old boy.

At the time, authorities said they believed Harris suffocated the baby because he was tired of hearing the child screaming and crying. The couple were also charged with drug offenses  related to the meth, marijuana and spice that was found in the couple’s trailer at 4222 Wheeler Road.

In an email to WGAC’s Austin Rhodes, Wright addressed news this week that Russell was sentenced by Chief Judge J. Car­lisle Overstreet to just seven years of probation and drug abuse treatment after pleading guilty only to the drug charges. (She was on probation for felony convictions for forgery and drug possession.) In addition, Overstreet sentenced Harris to seven years of probation. He did not have any previous felonies.

In her statement to Rhodes, the District Attorney explained that the mother’s murder charge was dismissed at a preliminary hearing last year due to a lack of probable cause.

“The male defendant’s warrant was bound over to Superior Court in a separate preliminary hearing. It remains pending at this time,” Wright said. “That hearing adduced the following: there is no apparent cause of death for this infant, whose little body showed no evidence of disease or trauma. The cause of death is undetermined, which can have many implications (both criminal and non-criminal).

“The only evidence that the defendant committed an offense is from a jailhouse informant,” Wright continued. “He stated that the male defendant made a statement to him that he had suffocated the baby. His report does not match that of the mother or the boyfriend who were present in the house. As that warrant against the male defendant remains pending, I cannot offer any further insight at this time.”

As to the drug charges, Wright said the factual situation is similar.

“The officers responded to a call based on the child’s death. Upon arrival, they found evidence outside the residence that there had been drug usage and recent manufacturing,” the District Attorney said. “A small amount of methamphetamine was found. There was a witness who indicated that the same child had been present during a manufacturing process in the past. But there was nothing that corroborated that, including a negative toxicology screen of the baby during the autopsy process. The Sheriff’s Office made charges of possession of and manufacturing of methamphetamine in the presence of a child based on this reported information and the items that they located during their search. These are the charges that have been sentenced this week.”

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Isaac Kelly, 33, is being held in connection with the death of teen Errik B. Giles (pictured at right), who was struck Thursday night and pronounced dead at the scene on Hammond Road in Beech Island.

WGAC’s Austin Rhodes is reporting that Kelly is one of the CSRA’s leading gay rights activists. “Kelly is well known as one of the organizers of Augusta’s Gay Pride celebrations and parade,” Rhodes said on Facebook. (Kelly is shown at right in a photo from his Facebook page.)

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The body found in an Aiken wooded area Thursday was an Edgefield man who hung himself, the coroner says.

The body of Drayton Mims, 21 (pictured) was discovered in a wooded area near Trolley Line Road in Aiken, Coroner Tim Carlton said.

“Autopsy revealed that Mr. Mims died as a result of hanging. Manner of death is suicide,” the coroner said in a press release. “Mr. Mims had left Aiken Regional Medical Center voluntarily back on August 29, 2015 and had not been seen since.”

On Aug. 25, Mims posted a message on his Facebook page that said, “Never in my life have I ever felt so much pain.” His Facebook page indicates he was a young father of two boys.

His wife posted a message on New Year’s Eve that said, “This time last year, I would have never dreamed my life would be what it is now. I pray that wherever you are Drayton, you know we love you and miss you. Happy new year. Come home soon…”

(Editor’s Note: Our policy is not to report suicides unless they are public. In addition, the initial news in this case was reported that a body had been found in a wooded area in Aiken, leaving the public with questions about the mysterious death. We felt it necessary to report the conclusion of the case to let residents know this was NOT a homicide. We send our condolences to the Mims’ family.)

The post Coroner: Man Found Dead in Aiken Woods Had Hung Himself appeared first on AugustaCrime.com - Richmond, Columbia, and Aiken County Jail - Reports & Mugshots.

Authorities have identified the man fatally shot in Hephzibah on Friday.

Zachary T. Nutter, 26 (pictured), was shot once in the head on the 5000 block of Fulcher Road and was rushed to GRU, where he was pronounced dead.

Sheriff’s officials say the have “everyone of relevance in custody.” No arrests have been announced.

Stay tuned…

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A Warrenville teen was jailed in Aiken County this week on a warrant for filing a false report of a rape.

(This is one of this week’s stories in The Jail Report. Pick up your copy in local stores.)

Kelsey Ledford, 19, of Robinson Street, Warrenville, was charged with a felony count of filing a false report. She was served a warrant for that charge on Monday.

The arrest comes exactly one year after she talked to Aiken public safety officers and made the rape claim against a middle-aged man.

According to a report, Aiken police were called to the Aiken Hospital Emergency Room in reference to a sexual assault. Officers met with Ledford, who said she and a friend had been sexually assaulted by a white male at an “unknown residence in the River Bluff subdivision,” the report says. The teen claimed the rapist lived at the subdivision and used a gun during the assault.

On Monday, officers found Ledford at the Zaxby’s restaurant on University Parkway and arrested her on the warrant.

Authorities say a motive for the false claim is unclear.

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A student at Evans High School brought a loaded BB gun and drugs to school last Thursday, authorities say.

While he was being arrested, 17-year-old Dennis Atchley resisted arrest and fought with sheriff’s deputy Chris Burnett in a violent struggle that caused the officer to suffer a broken ankle. He is doing fine and will be out of work while recovering, authorities said.

According to a sheriff’s report, the teen was found in possession of a Umarez 40-X-P BB gun, a gram of meth worth $100 and a glass smoking device.

Atchley, 17, of Chinaberry Court, Martinez, was charged with drug possession, weapon on school property and felony obstruction of a law enforcement officer.

He was taken from school to the Columbia County Detention Center.

(This is one of this week’s stories in The Jail Report. Pick up your copy in local stores.)

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Four employees from two different Augusta stores have been arrested for commercial gambling after an undercover sting showed they were engaged in illegal cash payouts, according to a press release.

The Richmond County Sheriff’s Vice Division in conjunction with the Georgia Lottery COAM Division (Coin Operated Amusement Machine) concluded an undercover operation involving “cash pay outs” from several locations throughout Richmond County.

During the sting, two stores showed suspicious activity, which was consistent with illegal commercial gambling, sheriff’s Sgt. Michael Shane McDaniel Sr. said in a press release.

On Thursday authorities swooped in to Lotto Express at 203 13^th Street and arrested 61-year-old Hyun Hong (top photo) and 57-year-old (second photo) Sun Han on charges of commercial gambling.

 In addition, officers went to Lotto Plus at 46 13^th Street and arrested 47-year-old Stephanie Cowin (third photo) and 50-year-old Diane Choi (last photo) for commercial gambling. The total amount seized during this operation was $60,000, Sgt. McDaniel said.

All four female suspects were booked into the Charles B. Webster Detention Center.

The press release did not offer more specifics on what the women are accused of doing.

For more crime news, pick up this week’s edition of The Jail Report. Or visit us on Facebook at Facebook.com/thejailreport

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The GBI has been called into investigate a domestic slaying in which an off-duty deputy shot another man in south Augusta, authorities said.

(UPDATED STORY HERE: http://bit.ly/1K22b0b) 

Deputy Allen Crispin (pictured) reportedly shot his estranged wife’s friend during a confrontation on the 900 block of Horseshoe Road on Friday afternoon. The deceased man has been identified as 26-year-old Joshua Franklin Lee, who was shot twice, Chief Deputy Coroner Kenneth Boose Sr. said.

Sources say Crispin reportedly came to the home in the afternoon. The wife’s friend walked out and started fighting, pulling a weapon on the off-duty cop. Crispin then shot the man two or three times, according to our sources.

In a Facebook post from April 2014, Sheriff Richard Roundtree presented the deputy with an award.

The caption on the post said this:

“While traveling to work at the detention center on the morning of March 27, 2014 at 5:15AM, Deputy Allen Crispin came upon a vehicle that had gone off of the road and into the woods along Mike Padgett Highway. Upon exiting his vehicle, Deputy Crispin found the victim, Alvin Lynch, trapped in his vehicle which was on fire. Deputy Crispin along with two others that were standing by pulled the victim from the burning vehicle. Once the victim was pulled from the vehicle, it burst into flames. Deputy Crispin also attended to the victim until EMS workers responded. He also assisted EMS workers as well as the deputies on the scene. Deputy Crispin went beyond the call of duty to save a citizen in need, and it shows the fortitude which the sheriff is asking of all deputies. If it were not for Deputy Crispin and the two bystanders, the victim would have perished in the vehicle.”

 Stay tuned…

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