Author: Staff Reports

On October 30, 2025, deputies with the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Interdiction Unit conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle for an alleged traffic violation at the intersection of Maple Street and First Avenue in Douglas. Officers identified the driver as Jesse Music, 42, of Douglas. During the course of the stop, deputies observed behavior indicative of criminal activity. A probable cause search of the vehicle was conducted, resulting in the discovery of a quantity of suspected methamphetamine and three firearms inside the vehicle. As a result, Music was arrested and transported to the Coffee County Jail without incident,…

A lucky Douglas resident won a $3 million top prize on a Georgia Lottery scratch off ticket. The winner played the $3,000,000 Jumbo Bucks scratcher and purchased the winning ticket at T&M Food Mart on 1626 South Peterson Avenue in Douglas. The claimed the prize on October 29, 2025, and took the lump sum option – a total of $1,498,857. This is at least the second time a Coffee County resident has won a large prize in the lottery. In July, another lucky winner won $1 million on a scratcher he bought at a store in the county. As with…

Unless the ongoing government shutdown ends or Congress otherwise intervenes, over 42,000,000 million low income Americans will lose their benefits through Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly referred to as the food stamp program, which is administered by the USDA. Earlier this month, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins instructed states to stop processing SNAP benefits for November, stating that the program will run out of money in two weeks if benefits are processed. Politics and possible contingency funding solutions aside, the fallout from the potential suspension of SNAP benefits could be significant for communities throughout the country. And Coffee County is…

Two Douglas men were arrested and remain in jail in connection with an incident that left a female victim with cuts on her throat and left arm, according to a sheriff’s office incident report. The incident happened on October 19, 2025, at around 5:30 p.m. An officer responded to a Sparrow Street address and met with the female victim, who had cuts on her left arm and throat as well as red marks on her throat consistent with being held by the throat, the report says. The victim reported that she had met Cedric Thomas, 39, of Douglas, a few…

Sometimes things get so out of hand it’s all but impossible to figure out exactly what went on. Such is the case with an incident that occurred on October 26, 2025 at a Ben Carver Road address. The initial call came in as a domestic dispute but officers quickly discovered it was a lot more. According to an incident report from the sheriff’s office, a domestic dispute call came in from Zulema Cruz-Ortiz, 34, of Ambrose. When the first deputy arrived, he noticed “multiple” alcoholic beverage containers scattered throughout the property and a number of individuals who appeared to be…

A traffic stop at the intersection of Barrington Road and Sinkhole Road for no insurance turned into an illegal drug investigation when officers found suspected methamphetamine on the driver of the vehicle. According to an incident report from the sheriff’s office, around 9:45 p.m. on October 7, 2025, a deputy saw a 1997 Ford pickup turn off of Highway 32 on to Barrington Road without using its turn signal. The officer ran the vehicle’s tag and it came back as uninsured. The officer initiated a traffic stop and spoke with the driver, identified as Jeremy Dewayne Smith, 36, of Ambrose,…

Tuesday afternoon, David Spivey, who had been charged with embracery in connection with the November 2022 murder trial of Justin Anderson, was acquitted by a Coffee County jury after a short trial and even shorter deliberation. Spivey had been arrested in March of 2023 after a Grand Jury indicted him (and Joey Anderson, Justin Anderson’s father) on embracery charges (Georgia’s official term for jury tampering). The indictment states that Joey Anderson allegedly contacted David Spivey, the brother of Johnny Spivey, a potential juror in Justin Anderson’s 2022 trial. Justin Anderson was facing trial on charges of murder, aggravated assault, making…

A new era of football began in Coffee County on Tuesday afternoon – girls’ flag football. The 2020-2021 school year featured the first season of flag football for the Georgia High School Association. From there, the sport has grown significantly, both within the GHSA and into other organizations as well. The Georgia Independent Athletic Association, which governs many of the private schools in Georgia, has also adopted flag football. And now the sport has come to Coffee County via Citizens Christian Academy. Monday afternoon, the first high school flag football games in Coffee County history were played at Patriot Field…

A 29-year-old Douglas woman was arrested and charged with aggressive driving after she allegedly used her vehicle, 2013 Mazda 3, to keep another vehicle, a 2020 Hyundai Sonata, from driving away because a passenger in the Sonata owed her money, according to a report from the Douglas Police Department. The report says that on October 12, 2025, at around 10:30 p.m., an officer responded to a traffic accident call at the intersection of East Mitchell Street and MLK Drive. When the officer arrived, he spoke with Tierra Bennett, 29, of Douglas, who said that she was on Mitchell Street looking…

Another accident involving a side-by-side off- road vehicle that occurred Friday night has claimed a life. Friday night around 9:45, Coffee E-911 received a report of an accident near the intersection of Ivy Road and Topaz Road off Highway 206 toward Fitzgerald. Both are dirt roads. Deputies from the sheriff’s office and emergency personnel responded to the scene and found a wrecked side-by-side that had been carrying multiple occupants. According to a statement from the sheriff’s office, one of the occupants did not survive. The accident investigation has been turned over to the Georgia State Patrol. The sheriff’s office offered…