Police were called in regard to a financial fraud incident. A young man received a check in the mail, addressed to him, for $2,980 from a business called First Impressions Inc. located in New York City.
The man thought he was the winner of some sort of sweepstakes and immediately sought the advice of a family friend. The family friend took the young man to a nearby liquor store to cash the check, and acted as the co–signer. The check was cashed and the young man received the funds, at which time he went and bought a car. A couple weeks later, the family friend arrived at the young man’s residence with a copy of the check, provided by the liquor store, which had been returned because of insufficient funds. After being asked, the young man told police that the liquor store employee had called a number for the company that had been found via the internet in an attempt to verify the check.
There was no business number listed on the check. No further information was available from the young man. The report did not mention whether the money had to be returned, or whether the young man was able to keep the car he’d purchased with the money.
• Three men were sitting in a car talking when one man asked the driver if he could borrow five dollars. The driver told the man that he did not have the money to lend him at that time. The requestor became angry, exited the vehicle and walked around to the driver side. He opened the door, said “it would be wrong if I pulled my burner and burned your ass,” and smacked the driver in the forehead with a black pistol described as slightly smaller than a Glock 21. The third guy got out of the car to try and jump on the pistol wielding would–be money borrower, but the second man ran off. There was no visible injury on the driver’s forehead and he refused medical attention. He said he had knew the assailant, but was unable to say for how long. He was given a CRN card.
• A man was arrested for trying to shoplift $75 worth of sweaters from a department store in the Oglethorpe Mall. The suspect walked to a table full of sweaters, perused the merchandise and picked up two sweaters. The officer watched the suspect via surveillance camera as he wandered to a corner with the merchandise and attempted to conceal the items. The officer confronted the man as he tried to exit. The man turned over the merchandise and did not attempt to flee. He was escorted to the office and signed a statement of admission as well as a two year ban form. He was then arrested.
• An off–duty officer working at a department store in the Savannah Mall called police after detaining three individuals for suspected credit card fraud. A man and woman had attempted to purchase items using a credit card that had been cancelled after it was reported stolen. Once separated from the trio for questioning the woman told police that she had agreed to use the stolen credit card to buy items for one of the men in exchange for some crack cocaine, which she had already obtained from the man. A search of her purse uncovered about 1 gram of crack as well as a crack pipe. She told police that she had been with the man for two days, and he would not allow her to leave until she bought the items wanted in exchange for the drugs. The woman told police that the other man had stashed about 10 grams of crack behind the other man’s trailer. He was arrested for an outstanding warrant. She was arrested for possession of a controlled substance. She never actually used the credit card, and was only pretending to be willing because of duress. The man who prompted the credit card use was in possession of $2,000 in cash, and had two previous convictions for drug trafficking in Chatham County. He was released without any charges.
