Armed Robbers Steal Backpack Blowers From Landscape Employee: Blotter

Editor’s note: the following incidents were taken from the Sandy Springs Police Department’s Weekly Wrap Up compiled by Capt. Steve Rose, which contains some — not all — of the incidents that occurred Aug. 5-13:

Robbery

• 4700 block of Kitty Hawk Drive, 30342, 8/5: A landscape employee reported that he was robbed just before 4 p.m. by two black males who drove a U-Haul truck. He was in his truck when approached by one of the suspects with a gun. Two backpack blowers were stolen.

Burglary

• 500 block of Old Harbor Drive, 30328, 8/5: The resident said a man, who was a family adviser, is suspected of burglarizing the home and stealing guns. She said the man has a history of burglary, having been arrested in Athens for burglarizing a night club.
• 100 block of Glenridge Point, 30328, 8/5: The victim was gone from the home for two days. He returned to find his bedroom TV outside in the grass next to his porch. No sign of forced entry was found. He hinted his ex-girlfriend has illegally entered the home previously, taking bowls and spoons. She is on the short list of suspects.
• 6500 block of Cherry Tree Lane, 30328, 8/7: The resident reported that he suspects an acquaintance of coming into his garage, leaving a pair of gloves inside. There is no known method of entry. He said the man jams the WiFi signal so that none of the cameras will pick up the image. The officer noted that it was unclear of the victim’s relationship with the suspect.
• 200 block of Legran Bend, 30342, 8/8: The resident said she noticed her garage door leading to the inside of the home was open when she arrived there. She noticed her bedroom had been ransacked and it appears her purses and some jewelry are missing. She said her ex-boyfriend may be a good suspect.
• 5801 Kingsport Drive, 30342, 8/10: Someone threw a brick through a window of the Lake Placid Apartments leasing office and stole household cleaning products, bagged them, but left them near the rear door -- probably because they got spooked and then took off.
• A tree company in the 4600 block of Roswell Road reported a burglary that took place
  overnight. Someone forced their way through the padlocked gate, entered a supply trailer and took two backpack blowers and 20 chainsaws.
• 7100 block of Glenridge Drive, 30328, 8/11 (St. Jude’s Church): Someone burglarized the gift shop in the church by forcing a deadbolt. $247 was taken from the register.
• 100 block of Morgans Landing Drive, 30350, 8/11: Someone cut a screen and opened a rear window, accessing the apartment. Four Mason jars of costume jewelry and her checkbook were taken. Later, someone cashed a $100 check in the stolen checkbook.
• 7000 block of Brigham Drive, 30350, 8/12: The resident reported that he was notified by his alarm company of an activation on his residence. Thinking it was false, he cancelled the response. He found a gate open in his back yard and a forced rear door. It looks like the burglar tried to take a flat-screen TV but left it on the floor.

Thefts

• 8500 block of Roswell Road, 30350, 8/5: A 2016 Jeep Renegade was taken from the Rusty Nail bar parking lot.
• 6300 block of Barfield Road, 30328, 8/7: Someone stole a Keurig B-70 coffee maker from an office building.
• 5580 Roswell Road, 30342, 8/7 (Lifetime Fitness): A member reported that $160 was stolen from his wallet inside the locker in the locker room of the gym.
• 6690 Roswell Road, 30328, 8/10 (LA Fitness): A 31-year-old woman said someone stole her gold key lock, $15 and a TJ Maxx credit card from her locker.
• 8200 block of Innsbruck Drive, 30350, 8/8: A resident said some of her jewelry is missing from her home sometime after June 22.
• 100 block of Allen Road, 30328, 8/8: A 55-year old woman claims that maintenance workers at her mid-rise residence stole her Nancy Drew books, veggie wash and coffee maker. She said this was a two-year ongoing situation.
• Kroger (Sandy Springs Place) reported two black males swiped 20 cartons of Gerber baby formula
  and some Coors Lite beer.
• 8200 block of Roswell Road, 30350, 8/8: A man reported that he parked his car at the Chevron, left it running and unlocked while he went into the store. The car was taken while he was in the store. A patrol officer spotted the car in an apartment complex on Colquitt Road. It was recovered undamaged.
• 1155 Mt. Vernon Hwy, 30328, 8/11: A 24-year-old man said he left his car unlocked with its keys inside parked around 9 p.m. Around 11:30 p.m. he returned and the car was gone. He said he is behind on payments and didn’t know if the car had been repossessed. A check on the repossessed files did not yield his car so it appears stolen.

Thefts From Vehicles

• 6345 Powers Ferry Road (x2), 30339, 8/5 (Wyndham Hotel): Nothing taken
• 7000 block of Roswell Road, 30328, 8/5: Tag
• Spalding Trail, 30350, 8/5: Laptop from trunk
• 5900 block of Barfield Road, 30328, 8/5: $226 cash; suspects valets
• 5676 Kingsport Drive, 30342, 8/7: Wheels
• Spruell Springs Road, 30342, 8/7: Stihl blowers ($500 each) from back of truck
• 5620 Roswell Road, 30342, 8/7: Tag
• 6690 Roswell Road, 30328, 8/7: MacBook, Lenovo computers, credit cards
• 1400 Huntcliff Village Drive, 30350, 8/8: Nothing taken
• 900 block of Brandywine Circle (x2), 30350, 8/9: Laptop from unlocked Jeep in open garage overnight
• 4900 block of Roswell Road, 30342, 8/9: Laptop (Lenovo)
• 9401 Roberts Drive, 30350, 8/10: Backpack, laptop
• 1300 block of Wedgewood Court, 30350, 8/10: Laptop
• 5580 Roswell Road, 30342, 8/11: Nothing taken
• 6615 Roswell Road, 30328, 8/12: MacBook, Louis Vuitton bag and other items
• 5300 block of Peachtree Dunwoody Road, 30342, 8/13: Backpack and contents
• 5500 block of Glenridge Drive, 30342, 8/13: Mexican passport (Unlocked car)
• Prospect Place, 30328, 8/13: Microphone, guitar and case, PA Head (Possibly unlocked)

Other Things

• On Aug. 5, Sandy Springs police SWAT assisted Brookhaven on the arrest in the 1400 block of Northeast Expressway. During the incident, one of the Sandy Springs SWAT members picked up a nice bite on the wrist by one of the Brookhaven K-9 dogs — something that is not uncommon. The dogs are pretty amped up and a step too close to the handler can be a bad thing. He was not seriously hurt.
• 1000 block of Wingate Way, 30350, 8/8: A 38-year-old woman reported that she was married to a man for five years. After he received his U.S. citizenship, he told her he didn’t want to be married to her anymore. Since that time, he has tried to sell a South African condo in her name. She found out and stopped the transaction.
• 2300 block of Treelodge Parkway, 30350, 8/6: Two women reported they were approached by a black male who asked for a cigarette. They didn’t have one, making the mad angry, and as a result, he spit on one of the women, threatened to kill both, then walked off.
• The staff at Publix at 8725 Roswell complained about a homeless woman sitting in front of the store. The officer’s narrative read, “she was sitting in the front of the door to Publix, charging her phone with her dog.
• 1000 block of Wingate Way, 30350, 8/12: Around 4 p.m., officers were dispatched to the above address regarding an unknown trouble. The 9-1-1 operator said they heard a woman screaming and then a male scream, “My finger is hanging off!” On arrival, the officers could not get anyone to the door. A nearby resident said the resident’s car was gone. A check of the phone call location showed a Johnson Ferry location. Finally, cops were contacted again by the female complainant who said everything is OK. She said although it sounded like it, she and her boyfriend were not fighting. The officer went to the hospital and found the couple who said “Everything is OK.” The officer was told the man’s pinky finger was severed and had to be reattached (but everything was OK). He said he was attacked by someone else. Eventually the couple refused to talk about it. Based on the evidence, the woman was arrested for domestic violence-related charges.

Fraud

• Glenlake Parkway, 30328, 8/7: An employee with a local Sanford, Florida, church purchased airfare for a mission trip for several members. She contacted a company called “Mission Trip Airfare” on Glenlake Parkway and made arrangements for the trip. She mailed two checks, one for $9,333 and a second, to cover the balance of $549. Both checks were cashed but no tickets were mailed. She contacted the
  representative named Andy, who made excuses. The trip never happened and now she is trying to get her money back, but all of her efforts have been blocked. She told the officer that other groups have fallen victim to this company as well.
• 1100 block of Hightower Trail, 30350, 8/11: A complainant reported that she made a legit wire transfer for her company. Within minutes, an e-mail to a coworker made to look like it came from the complainant, requested a large sum of money (over $115,000) be sent to another vendor. The employee caught it and the transfer did no take place. Capt. Steve Rose says: This is about the third one we’ve seen in the last month. The perp clones an e-mail related to a company and uses the CEO or other high-ranking dude to authorize a wire transfer for a lot of money. Be on the alert for these. I’m on the lookout as well since I was contacted by a lawyer in Nigeria who is transferring several million to my bank account just for helping him move his client’s money to another country. Lucky me.

Arrests

• Hammond Drive, 30328, 8/5: Just before 5 a.m., a patrol officer spotted a car driving erratically. He ran the tag on the car and the return showed it assigned to another car. He made a traffic stop and during the interview noted the driver and two passengers were acting extremely nervous. Officers subsequently arrested the driver for possessing cocaine, MDMA (ecstasy), scales and other items consistent with the felony possession. Eighteen grams of cocaine and 71 ecstasy pills, said to be fake by the driver, (they tested positive.) The field determination was that the others were not involved. The driver is charged with possessing with intent to sell.
• 5610 Roswell Road, 30342, 8/7: Just after 10 p.m., two officers checked a suspicious person who was seen checking doors of closed businesses near Target at the Prado. The man was acting strangely and took a defensive stance as the officers tried to question him. He resisted until he was handcuffed. He told officers that poisons from the air were getting on him causing his skin to burn. They took him to Northside Hospital to be evaluated. They kept him for future psychiatric evaluations.
• The June 26 bank robbery at PNC Bank at 5640 Roswell Road has been solved with the arrest of 18-year old Christian Ware of Memphis, Tennessee. She and Tremmell Adams, 30, of Kennesaw, are charged with several bank robberies, including Howell Mill Road in Atlanta, Roswell Street in Marietta, and a SunTrust Bank in Chattanooga. The arrest occurred in Marietta courtesy of the FBI and Atlanta police.
• Just before 2 a.m., an officer drove up on a car with its flashers on. The driver was an Uber driver,
  and had passengers in the car. He told the officer that the passengers were trying to figure out something about the remainder of the trip. The driver had an active Uber application and, unfortunately for him, a warrant active from Gwinnett County on a traffic offense. He was arrested and the car impounded.
• 8100 block of Roswell Road, 30350, 8/12: A 38-year-old man said he was approached by two suspects (juveniles) just before 10 p.m. The two suspects jumped him and began beating him. One kept saying “What you got?” The suspects were described at two black males, one with a grey hoodie and one with a red bandana. A passing motorist saw the man being assaulted and stopped. He honked the horn, causing the suspects to run north from that location. The two suspects tried, but were unable to pull the victim’s bag from his possession. The two were later located by cops and identified by both the victim and witness. Each suspect is charged with criminal attempt to commit robbery and battery. They were taken to the Fulton Youth Detention Center.
• Peachtree Dunwoody Road at Concourse Parkway, 30328, 8/13: A patrol officer on his way in to work just after 6 a.m. saw a man walking in the middle of the southbound lanes of PDR. He pulled out on the man and was advised by radio that there were earlier calls on the man having to do with chasing cars. Turns out both St. Joe’s and Northside Hospitals kicked him out of the ER areas. The man appeared to be having some sort of psychotic episode, telling the officer someone was after him, trying to kill him. The man became agitated with the officer’s questions and took what was called “a fighting stance.” The officers ended up having to forcefully cuff the man after deploying the Taser. During the struggle to restrain him, one of the officers received an arm injury and was later seen and released from the hospital. The man was charged with several charges including giving a false name, obstruction and pedestrian in the roadway.

Image via Sandy Springs police