The Blotter January 22 2003

An officer was sent to the Greyhound bus station on Forsyth Street. During a bus trip from Mobile, Ala., to Atlanta, two passengers approached the bus driver and said they had seen a man on the bus that matched the description of a wanted terrorist shown on a poster. Atlanta police briefly detained the man, a heavyset 35-year-old. The man had a valid passport and visa, which was checked by an FBI agent. The man said he came to Atlanta to pick up a truck to take back to Mexico for his family. He was released.

A 56-year-old man said someone broke a window at his home on Spence Street and stole $210 from his bedroom. Also, the thief left a black backpack in his living room. Police arrived and examined the backpack. The following items, all of which belonged to the 56-year-old man, were inside the backpack: six bottles of beer; some ham, chicken and sausage; and two sweatshirts. The items were returned to the man.

The Atlanta Fire Department performed a building check on an abandoned church/shelter at the intersection of Fraser and Solomon streets. Fire employees entered the church/shelter and found a dead cat nailed to the wall with large spikes. The floor was spray-painted. Also, there were satanic symbols and a scarecrow hanging in one room.

A 30-year-old man said someone stole a handgun from his house on Browns Mill Road. He said the handgun was in his bedroom, and the babysitter had a party that night. He suspects that one of the babysitter’s friends took the gun. He said his bedroom drawers had been pulled out and searched.

At an apartment on Glenwood Avenue, a 27-year-old woman argued with her boyfriend, a 26-year-old bald man with tattoos on both arms. The woman said she thought they should take a break from the relationship. The boyfriend got angry and said, “Now, I’ll pull out your ho card.” She didn’t know what that meant.

Later that morning, a neighbor told her that some obscenities were written on the apartment walls. The obscenities stated that the 27-year-old woman sucked dick, eats pussy, etc. The neighbor saw the boyfriend leaving the area.

A 51-year-old woman returned to her apartment on Cooper Street and discovered that someone had stolen her TV and VCR. Also, someone had defecated in her toilet. When police arrived, fingerprinting was impossible because the woman had cleaned up and put any handled items back where they belonged.

A 30-year-old woman walked into a spa on Peachtree Road and presented a gift certificate for $300 in spa services. Then, she requested a massage. During her massage, an employee entered the ID number on the gift certificate into the spa computer. The computer indicated that the gift certificate was stolen or invalid. This was brought to the 30-year-old woman’s attention. She said she didn’t remember where she bought the gift certificate. The spa employee requested an alternative form of payment for the massage, which cost about $70. The woman said she didn’t have another way to pay for the massage, but she had several other gift certificates in her car that she could use. The woman got dressed, walked to her car, and never returned to the spa.

An officer saw a 33-year-old woman in flowered pants and slippers walking in the middle of Simpson Road. The officer repeatedly asked her to get out of the road. “Fuck this,” yelled the woman, as she pulled down her flowered pants and exposed her bare buttocks to passing traffic. She was arrested for public drunkenness and public indecency, among other charges.

At an apartment on Villa Court, a 47-year-old woman received a phone call from someone at Fulton County Jail. The woman asked for the caller’s name. The caller said, “It’s Black.” The woman said she didn’t know anyone by that name. “Come on now, you don’t remember me?” the caller asked. The woman hung up. During the next two days, the man called her about 60 times. She called the phone company and blocked the number.

An officer saw a 46-year-old man urinating on a sidewalk in front of an apartment complex on Joseph E. Lowery Boulevard. The officer wrote, “Three cars, traveling northbound, had a clear line of sight to see his penis.” The 46-year-old man, who is homeless, was arrested for public indecency and public urination.

A 29-year-old Jonesboro man was driving south on I-85 in his Chevy Tahoe. A green Grand Am pulled alongside him. The Grand Am driver rolled down the window and threw a box of empty beer bottles at the Tahoe.

As a 36-year-old Lithonia man left a grocery store on Howell Mill Road, he was approached by two middle-aged men. The men said they were not from the United States and had a lot of money that they wanted to put in a bank. The men said they weren’t familiar with how credit cards and ATMs worked. They asked the Lithonia man to show them how they worked. The Lithonia man took the two men to a Bank of America ATM and demonstrated how to use an ATM, with three different cards. The two men asked to see the cards. The Lithonia man allowed them to inspect the cards. The two men asked many questions about the bank. Then, they left on foot.

About an hour later, the Lithonia man realized that the two men never returned his three ATM cards. He called his bank and found out that $300 was removed from one account. He canceled the cards.

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