The Blotter January 07 2009

PARENT TRAP? An officer responded to a fight call at an apartment on Forrest Park Road. A 35-year-old man said he was inside his apartment when two women kicked in his front door and tried to steal his baby’s clothes from his home. The man said he has two kids with one of the door-kicking women, but they don’t live together. He said he tried to push his kids’ mother out of the apartment, but the two women grabbed a tiki torch near his door and started beating him in the face and arm. He said a third woman — who was inside his apartment — grabbed a gun and told the other two women to leave. He said the two women ran over to his car, a Ford Explorer, and used a cement brick to do more than $1,000 in damages.

Two witnesses said the two women attacked the man with a metal tiki torch and a barbecue grill and damaged the man’s car. An officer arrested both women and read them their rights. The woman who has two kids with the man decided to talk. She admitted that she kicked in his front door, but she said he owed her baby clothing and the baby needed changing.

BITE THE HAND THAT CLEANS? An officer responded to a dispute at a dentist’s office on Virginia Avenue. A female employee said a man is sending harassing e-mails and making harassing calls to the dentist’s office. She said the man is threatening her and the dental office because they refused to treat him. “[She] submitted paperwork proving he does not have dental coverage, he only has medical coverage,” an officer wrote. The woman and the dentist are afraid that the man’s actions will escalate and become more detrimental. The 47-year-old man lives in Buford.

PEOPLE’S STRANGE STUFF: A 65-year-old South Carolina woman said she lost her shopping bag at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Her bag reportedly contained $900 worth of wigs, posters, watches, and the woman’s medication and Bluetooth. Total value: $1,150.

ALL IN THE FAMILY: On Dogwood Drive, a 35-year-old woman said her brother is threatening her and possibly doing things to the food she places in the kitchen. She said on several occasions, her brother threatened to beat her up and told her to sleep with one eye open. Her brother wasn’t home during the officer’s visit. But the officer talked to the woman’s mother. The mother said none of these things actually happened and her daughter is mentally disturbed or possibly bipolar and has something against her siblings. The mother said her daughter always acts out — sometimes violently — when her brother or sister comes to the house.

SUSPICIOUS MINDS: Two officers dealt with suspicious people at a boarded up and vacant house on Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway. One man lied about his birthdate twice. Police searched the man and allegedly found suspected crack cocaine and a Wachovia ATM card with another man’s name on it. The officer tried to call the ATM card’s owner: an 86-year-old man who lives in a nursing home. A nursing-home assistant said the man couldn’t come to the phone, but gave police the man’s guardian’s contact info. The officer talked to the guardian (the man’s niece) and she said she’s been contacting Wachovia for weeks about unauthorized withdrawals from the man’s account.

So the officer talked to the suspect again. He said the 86-year-old man is “just like a grandfather” to him, and that the guardian isn’t properly caring for the 86-year-old man. He said that’s why the 86-year-old man gave him the ATM card – so he could take care of needs such as fast food and lottery tickets. The suspect went to jail.

Clean hands DENIED? A 51-year-old man allegedly tried to steal seven bottles of hand sanitizer from a pharmacy on Broad Street. He was charged with shoplifting. The generic hand sanitizer is worth $12.

PRINT’S NOT DEAD YET: An Atlanta Journal-Constitution employee said she was checking on newsstands when she saw a man steal a $1 newspaper on Forsyth Street. The 48-year-old man confessed to stealing the newspaper. He was charged with shoplifting. HAVE A HEART: A woman said she walked out of a grocery store on Piedmont Avenue and saw a man trying to break into a taxi in the parking lot. She said the suspect took a small blue bag from the taxi, hopped into a Ford Expedition and sped away.

The taxi owner said during this time, he was inside the grocery store, filling out an application. The only item missing from his taxi: his heart medication (worth $500).

STUPID MOVE OF THE WEEK: A 52-year-old man said someone smashed a window in his Cadillac on Pryor Street. The man said he had left a three-karat diamond men’s gold nugget ring on the console (the ring is worth about $7,000). Also, the man said, he left two books of bank checks on the console. Now, the diamond ring and the man’s checks are missing.

Items in the Blotter are taken from actual Atlanta police reports. The Blotter Diva compiles them and puts them into her own words.