The Blotter March 06 2002

A 25-year-old man returned to his apartment on Bolton Road and discovered that someone stole his Xbox, various DVDs and a video cartridge called “NFL Fever.” The 25-year-old, who was tipsy, said just before he left, he allowed a man named “Gator” to use his bathroom. He said Gator had very large eyes. Police determined that the bathroom window was unlocked and that was the entry point for the theft. The man said he only had a casual relationship with Gator and didn’t know him well.

A 40-year-old woman said she was sitting on the doorstep of her apartment on McDonough Avenue when her neighbor, a 47-year-old woman, confronted her and asked if she had been talking about her. The neighbor wore a nightgown and white tights. She weighed about 200 pounds. The 40-year-old said they started wrestling, but she was only playing. The 40-year-old said she didn’t know the neighbor was serious until the neighbor started choking her. The 40-year-old dropped the bottle she was drinking from and walked toward her apartment. The neighbor broke the bottle and used it to make a 1-inch cut on the 40-year-old’s wrist. A witness confirmed the 40-year-old’s story.

At a discount grocery store on Moreland Avenue, a 26-year-old male employee said a 35-year-old man walked into the store, grabbed a 12-pack of Busch beer and walked out without paying. The employee followed the man outside and retrieved the beer. The man, who was nervous and twitching, sat down outside the store. Repeatedly, the employee asked him to leave the area, but he refused. Police were called. The officer reported, “Once the suspect was placed into custody, I asked him for his name and address. The suspect then stated that his name was Lucifer and he was an angel who had fallen from heaven.”

In addition to theft, the man also was charged with giving false information to police.

Around 9 p.m., an officer got a call concerning a half-dressed woman on Georgia Avenue. Upon arrival, the officer saw a 29-year-old woman wrapped in a white sheet, with her underwear visible. The woman said three men took her clothes. She also said she worked on the 13th floor of Grady Hospital (the psychiatric ward). The officer took her to Grady’s 13th floor. Employees there said the woman was released from Grady 12 days ago.

A 35-year-old woman said she received several hang-up calls at her Daniel Street apartment. According to the police report, on several different occasions, “she believes someone has made a peephole in the roof or ceiling of her home, so they could watch her undress. She has not located the peephole, but feels as if there is one.”

Early one morning, an alarm went off at a check-cashing store on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. A witness told police he saw a black Caprice back up toward the store window and smash it. Then, a man got out of the car and took the gumball machine from the store lobby.

A 50-year-old man called police from a hotel on Peachtree Street and said his rental car, a 2001 Ford Taurus, had been stolen. Later in the same conversation, the man said the car was found — he had forgotten where he parked it.

Early one Monday morning a 67-year-old doctor went to his office on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. The doctor noticed that the door to his storage closet was off its hinges. Twelve packages of Viagra were missing from the closet, and a Viagra pamphlet was found near the exit door. No suspects.

A 43-year-old woman with long brown hair went to a restaurant on Moreland Avenue in Little Five Points. The woman ordered one chicken quesadilla, along with eight Bud Lights and two Absolut Vodka drinks. She consumed them all and ran up a tab of $42.80. Then, she started disturbing customers around her and refused to pay her tab. She “was extremely intoxicated and unaware of what was going on,” according to the officer who arrested her for theft.

A Grady ambulance supervisor called police to a location on Luckie Street. The supervisor said a 38-year-old man “called for an ambulance for the second time today because he didn’t have a place to sleep.” The supervisor said the 38-year-old had been arrested three times for this same crime, and was just released from jail the day before for calling an ambulance for no reason. The 38-year-old was taken to jail.

A man on Dellwood Drive told police he met a producer from California on the Internet. The Atlanta man agreed to purchase some rare books from the California producer, so he sent the producer a cashier’s check for $13,000. Now, the Atlanta man hadn’t received his books. The Atlanta man said he spoke with the California producer, also male, who acknowledged that he received the money. The Atlanta man spoke with a detective in Beverly Hills, Calif., who is familiar with the California producer. He advised the Atlanta man to make a report with the Atlanta Police Department so they could get involved with the case. Investigation continues.

An officer received a call about a suspicious person on Maiden Lane. Upon arrival, the officer saw a 42-year-old man in a multi-colored shirt, removing quarters from a Leukemia & Lymphoma Society coinboard. The man, who was sitting between two cars and eating Chinese food, put the quarters in his pants pocket.

The officer asked the 42-year-old where he got the coinboard. The man said he bought the coinboard at the Chinese restaurant where he got his food. The 42-year-old, and his male friend sitting next to him, refused to leave when the officer asked. So both were arrested. The officer drove them back to the Chinese restaurant, where employees said the coinboard was stolen around the same time that the two men picked up their food.

An officer saw a 37-year-old man on the porch of a residence on Morosgo Drive. The officer wrote, “Noticing that the house was in such disrepair, I suspected he may have been homeless living in abandoned property.” The officer approached the man, who produced identification and said he rented the house from a local landlord. He gave police the landlord’s phone number. The officer then noticed raw sewage seeping from the ground behind the property. The man said he ran a laundry business from the house and that’s why the sewage was running in his yard. He did not have a business permit. The landlord was notified.

At an apartment on Center Street, a 24-year-old woman said she was arguing with her child’s father, who lives with her. She said she went outside and sat in her car so he couldn’t hit her. He waved for her to come inside. She refused. So he poured water over two TVs and the stereo system. He fled before police arrived. After having water poured into them, the TVs wouldn’t turn on and the stereo didn’t work.

All items in the Blotter are taken from actual Atlanta police reports and are public record.??