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• A woman was booked at the county jail for the 31st time. Samantha Conswella Collins, pictured above at left, was arrested for obstruction of an officer on March 25 after reportedly helping a fugitive hide out in a mobile home on Wrights Drive. She'd been out of state prison for all of five months when the arrest occurred. Meanwhile, Collins was one of four Food Depot employees arrested for stealing a felonious amount of meat back in December 2021. Collins then really, really didn't want to go back to jail in October 2022, leading officers on a high-speed chase through the southside before ultimately wrecking her pickup truck in a ditch near the Jones County line. She had a warrant at the time. Collins has been getting arrested for so many years that one of her mugshots is from the old-school booking room at the county jail on Linda Drive with the two mirrors, a serious blast from the past...
Pictured above is the old-school booking room at the county jail on Linda Drive with the two mirrors.
• Not to be outdone, Robert Earl Butts was booked at the county jail for the 36th time. Butts, pictured at top in middle, has now been arrested for criminal trespass on four different occasions this calendar year – three at the Elbert/Hancock Jet store and one at the southside CVS Pharmacy. For his career, "shoplifting" leads the way with 16 counts, while "criminal trespass" is a close second with 15 counts. A distant fourth is probation violations, followed by forgery. Also making the list is arson and theft by receiving.
• All hell broke loose in Room 116 at the Budget Inn, and the front door was knocked off its frame and the toilet destroyed. The suspect was a man named Paddle who drives a moped.
• A late-night frat kid fight broke out at 201 North Columbia St. after one frat kid refused to leave a party hosted by another frat. An officer responded but didn't have much success. "Almost all of the male subjects were highly intoxicated and continued to try talking all at once," according to the incident report, so the officer eventually gave up and decided to take names and photos and figure it out later.
• Charles Prosser chucked a hedge trimmer at a Chevrolet Impala after he "observed (the vehicle) drive by his residence playing music extremely loud." Prosser actually missed the first time around before nailing the Impala on the second shot, causing damage to a rearview mirror and front quarter panel. The vehicle's driver called 911, and Prosser ultimately was arrested.
• One of the drive-thru menus at the northside McDonald's was knocked out of commission on March 12 after a man in a truck pulling a utility trailer didn't do a good job of pulling forward to the first window.
• A group of men started putting each other in headlocks and bearhugs late Friday night in The Tunnel downtown. An officer intervened, although none of the men wanted to press charges.
• A fight broke out late Friday night in the Big Lots shopping center after "some uninvited patrons from the Columbia Pub had entered the party" at The Stop, which is a new event rental space in the same shopping center. Officers arrived and "attempted to separate the belligerent." No one was arrested.
• Two men were yelling outside of The Brick later Saturday night, and an officer intervened. The two men then began yelling about who threw the first punch. In the end, however, they managed to find common ground, as both men agreed that they did not wish to press charges.
• A woman on North Pickens Street relayed to an officer that someone broke into her house and stole a pair of her jeans and replaced them with a different pair of jeans thinking that she wouldn't notice.
• An elderly resident was the victim of the type of scam that nobody ever seems to fall for. It all started when she "received a phone call from what she believed to be Spectrum stating she could get 50% off of her monthly internet bill if she paid a small sum up front." The sales rep named "Bill" then told the lady to purchase two $250 gift cards from Target, so the lady drove to Macon and purchased two $250 Target gift cards. She then "gave Bill the card number on the back."
• Two Zaxby's employees were fired after one brought a handgun to work and the other decided to steal the gun and take it home with him. Both were teenagers. While cops were interviewing the employee who initially brought the gun to work, a bag of marijuana accidentally fell out of his pocket. Officers stamped out the marijuana. Nevertheless, Martell Bernard Wright, pictured above on the right, was charged with possession of a handgun by person under 18.
• Three different front doors were kicked in at The Bellamy apartments on March 6, and two different PlayStation 5s were stolen.
• A client at a group home on North Richmond Street pulled the fire alarm and kicked several holes in the wall on March 10. She also threw rocks at one of the employee's cars. One of the employees chose to press charges, so the client was arrested.
• Somebody stole eight or nine bags of Tide pods from Walgreens and then walked behind the Wendy's.
