Police Blotter: Employee Pockets Money From Gift Card Purchases

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SANDY SPRINGS, GA -- 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 June 18-22.

Robbery

• 8610 Roswell Road, 30350, 6/18: A robbery by snatch was called in just after 1 a.m. The victim had been to Tony’s Bar and then walked to his car and got in. A woman described as black female came up to him on the driver’s side and asked for a dollar. The man reached into his pocket to retrieve one when a black male reached in and took his wallet. The two suspects fled to a dark SUV and drove south on Roswell Road.
• 1100 Hammond Drive, 30328, 6/20: A woman reported that a man stole two phone from her (snatch robbery) and she chased him across the lot at 1100 Hammond to the Rite Aid on Hammond and Peachtree Dunwoody Road. She later admitted she knew and was staying with the suspect at the nearby Extended Stay. She reluctantly gave the officer the man’s information but this was looking more like an argument than a robbery.

Burglary

• 120 Northwood Drive (Cuemavaca Restaurant), 30342, 6/22: Owner arrived and saw a Hispanic male leaving the area. He found that a rock had been thrown through the glass. The man was confronted but fled. Missing is $400. The La Escondida store next door was also hit, same way. The owner has not determined that anything was taken.
• 4654 Roswell Road (Public Storage), 30342 6/22: Forced entry to a storage unit and $80 taken.
• 8529 Roswell Road (Roswell Hightower Liquor Store) 30350, 6/22: Video footage shows a 4 a.m. burglary where 3 bottles of Vodka were taken. Suspect threw a rock through the window, entered wearing a “scream” mask, black short sleeve shirt, jeans and red shoes.

Thefts

• A man on Ridgemont Drive reported on the 18th that his ex-wife stole several garden items including a garden frog and angel.
• 1165 Perimeter Center Way, 30328, 6/18: A woman reported someone stole her Galaxy phone from the jewelry counter at Goodwill.
• 6100 block of Bluestone Road, 30328, 6/19: A 21-year-old woman reported her cellphone was stolen while she attended a wedding event. The locator app showed the phone on Kingsport Drive.
• A 36-year-old man reported that he was staying at the Westin on the 19th. He went to the Enigma
  Lounge in Marietta and met a woman known as Keshia. He described her as a black female, in her late 20’s, blond hair, light skin, who wore all black. They returned to the hotel around 4 a.m. He woke just after noon and she was gone, along with his 2009 Mercedes E-350 (North Carolina tag) and $500.
• 7741 Roswell Road, 30350, 6/20: A 34-year-old woman said her wallet was stolen while she was in the WIC department of the Fulton County Government Center.
• 1000 block Greyfield Lane, 30350, 6/20: A 39-year-old man said his friend had been staying with him but had absconded with a bag that contained a laptop, camera, checkbook and other items. He said the suspect, known as Mr. Anderson, had stayed with him before and had done this before. Capt. Steve Rose with Sandy Springs police says: Should that not be what we call a ‘clue?’ Fool me once?
• The owner of Hammocks Trading Company at 7285 Roswell Road said an employee used gift cards to pay for customer purchases, then pocketed the money from the customer for himself. There were multiple transactions over time. CID is investigating.
• Allen Road, 30328, 6/22: A woman said her neighbor stole her medication. The neighbor said this is ongoing because she is crazy. The woman has had several 9-1-1 complaints in the last few months.
• 5825 Glenridge Drive, 30342, 6/22: The complainant said he interviewed a man from a temp agency who was later left alone in the office. The complainant said he later discovered his laptop gone.
• Other thefts: Blower from a shed, $1000 from under a mattress, and so it goes.

Thefts From Vehicles

• 4100 block Spring Creek Drive, 30350, 6/18: Purse (Suspect: male, white, curly hair)
• 600 block Summit Springs Drive, 30350, 6/20: Laptop (from trunk)
• 6900 block of Roswell Road, 30328, 6/20: Purse, $150 and a loaded gun.
• 4900 block Roswell Road, 30342 6/20: Laptop
• 1000 Johnson Ferry Road, 30342, 6/21: Purse
• 1000 block Pitts Road, 30350, 6/21: Wallet (later fraud attempts on his credit cards)
• 227 Sandy Springs Place, 30328, 6/21: Computer bag/contents
• 500 block of Spender Tr, 30328, 6/21: Headphones and gift bag
• 1600 Dunwoody Club Drive (Dunwoody Country Club), 30350, 6/22: Apple MacBook

Assault

• A 26-year-old woman on Huntcliff Village Drive reported on the 18th that she was jumped by another woman at a birthday party who then left and drove to Birmingham. Alcohol was involved.
• 6300 Powers Ferry Road (Mardi Gras), 30339, 6/19: The bathroom attendant reported that he was working in the men’s room when a woman customer came in. He told her she needed to leave. In response, she punched him, causing his glasses to break. She is a black female, 5’-7” and 170 pounds going by the name Tasha.

Fraud

• An 83-year-old woman reported that someone opened an AT&T account in her name using her social security number.
• A 57-year-old man reported that someone used his ID to take a loan with American Finance Solutions in
  2012. He was contacted by them and at that time explained that this was a fraudulent account. He assumed they were good with that. He did not file a police report. He later found the account was in collections (which totally screws your credit score by the way.) He is now in the process of working to get this off his credit history.
• A 53-year-old woman reported that she was swindled out of $13,000 after meeting a man online
  through the website widowswidowers.com. The man, whose name was Melvin, carried on a six-week online relationship with her and convinced her to provide her credit card information to which he emptied it. He even told her to take a large cash advance and send it to his lawyer in Ghana. Rose: Wow. Pretty sad right? At the same time, there were tons of clues that said this was a phony dude. His forte was preying on a lonely person, evident by that website.

Other Things

• Cedar Run, 30350, 6/19: Cops were called to the address on a disturbance call. They found a man who was slightly injured (abrasion on his knee) who said that he was at the Oasis on Northridge and hailed a cab (Tony’s Taxi) to take him home. He attempted to have a conversation with the driver, a Hispanic man in his 50’s. While doing so, the driver became irritated and said, “I don’t care about you, I have problems too.” The driver then began crying. When they arrived, as the victim was exiting the cab, the driver accelerated causing the injury to fall and injure his knee.
• A condo manager called to report an ex-employee, terminated, has been texting and harassing her since
  his dismissal.
• A 34-year-old woman said her ex-fiancé posted illicit photos of her on a social media site, angry over the
  fact that he wanted his engagement ring back. He’s also made threats to her.
• A man reported a car cut in front of him on I-285 westbound causing him to brake and rapidly change lanes. He blew his horn. The other guy (suspect) pulled alongside, rolled a window down and showed that he had a weapon.

Arrest

• A man was arrested after officers were called to the Preserve at Dunwoody Apartment complex regarding a man in a vacant apartment. The officer arrived and soon found him in the squatting position in what appeared to be an effort to evade being seen. It appeared the man and probably others were using the apartment to smoke marijuana, which he had some on him He was arrested.

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Image via Sandy Springs Police