Police Blotter: "Friendly" Sleepwalker Wanders Into Home

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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 Oct. 10-13:

Case of the week:

In the wee hours -- just before 3 a.m. -- of Saturday, Oct. 10, six perps in a stolen Mercedes out of Atlanta, proceeded to Glenridge Point Parkway and into the parking deck for the purpose of breaking into cars. In the process, a witness saw them and called 911. Two initial officers arrived within a minute or so and blocked the parking deck with their police cars. The two officers then walked up the parking deck towards the sounds of multiple window smash and grabs. The officers came upon the six young, but not juvenile, offenders entering the stolen Mercedes. The driver backed the car up but smashed into the concrete wall. He then accelerated forward almost hitting one of the officers while the other took cover behind a concrete wall. The car soon lost control in the next curve, smashing into another wall. All six fled. Three of the suspects entered a stairwell essentially trapping themselves since the exit points were all key card access. They were cornered in the stairwell by an officer. Two more suspects managed to escape the parking deck on foot but were chased down in the wooded area by other officers and taken into custody. The sixth man chose to jump from a second-story window — a decision soon regretted, as he broke his leg and his head to an extent. 14 cases were cleared and detectives are checking with other agencies to clear more cases. Rose says: The Mercedes was full of stolen stuff including an iPad that belonged to one of the residents. Also taken was the resident’s briefcase that contained a notebook with all of the resident’s passwords, including that of the iPad, written down. Come on, don’t leave that stuff in your car.

Robbery by snatch

• Johnson Ferry/Riverside Drive, 30328, 10/13: A woman said she was walking/running when a man came up to her and snatched her iPhone 6 from her, ran to a car parked on Johnson Ferry, and drove towards River Valley Road. A witness at the Johnson Ferry and Riverside Drive light copied the Virginia tag number. The bad news is the car belongs to Avis Rental and it was reported stolen on Oct. 11 in DeKalb County.

Burglary

• 8000 block of Ison Road, 30350, 10/10: A woman reported that just after midnight, she was awakened by the “sweet smell of Cologne,” because she is sensitive to smells, and observed a man in the room. She said that the man was “friendly” and said his name was Pharaoh. She said he shook her hand (it should be noted here the woman sleeps in the common area of the home). She could not tell much about him other than he had tattoos on his wrist. She said he was friendly and though perhaps he was sleepwalking. She thought the man was there to visit another person who lived in the basement. The other person in the basement confirmed the guy came in but didn’t know him. The guy then left without taking anything. She said he looked as if he was sleepwalking. She added that she leaves the doors unlocked at night.
• 6000 Roswell Road, 30328, 10/10: The Verizon Store alarm went off just before 2:30 a.m. courtesy of a large rock through the window. The manager did not exactly know what was taken at the time of the report.
• 6200 block of Riverside Drive, 30328, 10/10: The owner said the home was vacant and almost empty but there were items left in it. The owner was a rental and she recently bought another close by. Someone pushed in the AC unit and entered, ransacking the place but apparently taking nothing.
• 200 block of Tara Trail, 30342, 10/11: The resident said while he was sleeping sometime between 2 and 11 a.m., someone entered his home and took some items (not listed). The home had video surveillance but it was not connected to a DVR for recording.
• A man on Colquitt Road (30350) said his apartment was burglarized when someone came over and took his TV remote from his living room and his Imodium AD from his bathroom. During the conversation, the officer noticed a remote that matched the TV and asked if that was the remote in question? The man said someone must have brought it back. The Imodium AD is apparently still missing. He said he’s angry with SSPD and will be calling the mayor, council and police chief to report this.
• 1100 block of Hammond Drive, 30328, 10/11: The victim said he arrived home and found forced entry to the front door. The victim said a MacBook Pro was missing.
• 1000 block of Windsor Pkwy, 30342, 10/13: A resident reported that he left home from 8:10 to 8:30 a.m. to take his daughter to school. On return, he found that his carport door to the home was open. Someone came in and took several items including two TV’s, a couple of shotguns, and some other items. The resident said the door was unlocked.
• 200 Elden Drive, 30342, 10/13: A Kitchen Aid stove was removed from a newly constructed vacant residence.
• 8601 Roberts Drive, 30350, 10/13: A man said he took his sister to work at 8:30 a.m. An hour later he returned home to find that his 40-inch TV and sneakers had been stolen.

Thefts

• The manager of Dunkin Donuts said one of his staff had been till-tapping of late to the tune of about $255. Video showed him opening the drawer and pocking money here and there. He since has not returned. They’re deciding if or not to prosecute.
• Hunters Trace Circle, 30328, 10/10: A woman reported her Gorham Chantilly pattern tableware and silverware were taken from her cabinet in her living room. She had recent work done in the home and suspects someone associated with the workers.
• Rag-O-Rama (6500 Roswell Road), 30328, 10/11: An employee said a man came in and took a pair of shoes, valued at $32, and left without paying. He left a bag behind. In the bag was a crack pipe.
• 1000 block of Sandalwood Drive, 30350, 10/1-- Here’s how it was put to us: A 33-year-old man said he had an online acquaintance come by his apartment for a friendly conversation around 2:30 p.m. The acquaintance was a young black male, about 19 years old, 5’-7” and about 160 pounds. The victim said during or after the conversation, he showered for ten minutes and upon return found his iPhone6 and the friendly conversationalist missing. And....he didn’t know the name of the conversationalist either. Rose says: Engaging in conversation with people whom you met online may in fact be stimulating to some however there are risks involved. Be careful who you converse with and on a personal note, make sure you have the proper protection in place during all conversations.
• A 46-year old woman reported that she hired a moving company from Cumming to relocate her. Upon getting all her items moved into the new location, she found that a box, which she had sealed, had been opened. A number of items had been taken from it, including signed baseball memorabilia and rare coins.

Thefts from vehicles

• 1100 block Winding Creek Trail, 30328, 10/13: 3 envelopes containing $200 cash
• 5400 block of Glenridge, 30342, 10/13: Suspect -- white male, late 20’s, 5’-7”.

Assault

• While We Were Home Sleeping: A 20-year-old woman said she works at Taboo 2 Bar on Roswell Road. Around 2:40 a.m. she was clearing and cleaning off the tables. It all went down like this (Names have been changed for no particular reason): Betty said Lulu asked her where her friend Cathy was. Betty told Lulu she didn’t know but Lulu didn’t like her tone and demanded Betty call Cathy. Betty walked into the bathroom to make the call. At that exact moment, Lulu’s girlfriend, Bernice, walked into the bathroom. Bernice began shoving Betty, accusing Betty and Lulu—no wait, Cathy, of “messing” with Lulu. Betty tried to leave the bathroom but Bernice cut her off and smacked her. She continued to smack her until security officer Frank arrived. Frank had a tough time getting Lulu off Betty so two additional security officers, Chad and Biff, had to assist. Right about that time, Cathy showed up so Lulu went berserk, broke free, punched Cathy and then ran off. Cathy said she didn’t want to report the incident. Word on the street was that Cathy was talking bad about Lulu and Bernice, which started this wacky sequence of events.

Other things

• An officer, checking Morgan Falls Athletic Complex around 12:30 a.m. observed a car in the parking lot. It was after posted park hours so he checked the car and found a man and woman and the smell of marijuana. The report noted the man’s “pants were down.” They were cited for disorderly conduct for the possession of the small amount of marijuana.
• A 28-year-old woman advertised furniture for sale on Craigslist. She was contacted and an agreement made to purchase the furniture. The transfer was made through PayPal and she was sent more than the asking price to cover shipping. She was told to use MoneyGram to send the shipping refund, $974, to the buyer. She did all this before checking to see if the funds sent to her cleared. She found out that they were fraudulent meaning she gave away the $974. Rose says: Long story short: ANYTIME you engage in a sale of whatever, and part of that sale involves over-payment for you, to cover costs associated with the sale, or in the case of an employment agreement, to purchase office equipment, KNOW that most likely this is a SCAM! Never relinquish funds, by check or electronically, until your bank clears the other funds. Sometimes this will take 2-3 days. The scammers are banking on you transacting the overpayment, via MoneyGram, back to them, before your bank recognizes the fraud.

Arrests

• 5570 Roswell Road, 30342, 10/12: Following a shoplifting complaint at the Target Store, the officers were told that the suspect had stolen two watches and placed them in his car. He then walked to a nearby restaurant while store security watched and followed. The officers located the man and recovered the watches. He was arrested and taken to jail. He is on video on at least two other occasions, stealing from Target.

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Photo credit: Sandy Springs police