Author: Staff Reports

A disorderly person call at the Dollar General in Broxton took a bizarre turn on Friday night when the subject, James Brent Morton, 49, of Broxton, allegedly pulled a handgun on a police officer then fled the scene. According to an incident report from the Broxton Police Department, a Broxton police officer responded to the call and found several people arguing at the store. The officer asked everyone to be quiet and then had Morton step to the side with him. The report says that the officer could smell alcohol on Morton’s breath and Morton appeared to be intoxicated. The…

Earlier this month, an inmate who had been released from Coffee Correctional Facility in Nicholls was transported to the Coffee County Jail on a warrant from Orange County, Florida. According to a sheriff’s office report, Ashton Marotta, 20, was wanted out of Orange County for trafficking 28 grams or more of fentanyl, possession of a firearm by a person found to have committed a delinquent act, and two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The warrants were issued by Orange County on April 4, 2023. Marotta was taken to the Coffee County Jail from CCF on January 7,…

A 45-year-old was arrested after he allegedly called 911 twice to falsely report people were in his home and hiding under his home. The subject, identified as Jeremy Joseph Noyes, 45, remains in the Coffee County Jail. An incident report from the sheriff’s office states that on January 11, 2025, in the early morning hours, Noyes called 911 and reported that three or four men had come into his home and forced him to leave. Noyes added that one of the men was still inside hiding under a bed. Deputies responded and did not find anyone at the home. While…

An Ambrose man was jailed and later released on January 15, 2025, after he allegedly pulled a gun on another person during an argument because, as the suspect stated in the report, “he wasn’t going to let anybody whoop his ass.” On the morning of January 15, deputies responded to Curtis Vickers Road in response to an individual with a weapon, an incident report from the sheriff’s office states. According to the report, Tommy Jowers, 70, had gotten into an argument with the victim inside the Ambrose store around 8:30 a.m. when Jowers pulled a .22 handgun out of his…

An 18-year-old and a 20-year-old are in jail on aggravated assault charges after one of them allegedly fired multiple shots into a vehicle and a home in Sleepy Hollow Mobile Home Park on Saturday, January 18, 2025. According to an incident report from the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office, Cupris Morgan, 18, and Larry Daniel, 20, were in a silver Cadillac when one of them allegedly fired multiple shots into a vehicle which was pulling into a home at the mobile home park. According to the report, bullets also struck the home next door. The report states that the owner of…

Saturday night at Valdosta State University, Dr. June Munford of Coffee County was inducted into the Valdosta State University Hall of Fame. Dr. Munford, a first baseman, played baseball for the Blazers from 1983-1984 following two years at Middle Georgia College (now Macon State University). He capped his MGC career with a 1982 JUCO World Series national championship in Grand Junction, Colorado. According to a press release from VSU, Dr. Munford’s two seasons with the Blazers included a run at a national championship in 1983. That year, VSU finished third in California with a 45-14-1 record. Valdosta State won the…

A Douglas police officer who stopped a vehicle on the West Green Highway for driving without a tag found more than he expected. An incident report from the Douglas Police Department states that at noon on January 9, 2025, a DPD officer saw a Nissan Pathfinder driving on East Ward Street with no tag. He stopped the Pathfinder on the West Green Highway and spoke with the driver, identified as Anthony Santino Jimenez, 39, of Alma. The officer ran Jimenez’s license through 911 and found that he had two warrants for his arrest – one for battery and another for…

Friday morning, state troopers and deputies in Jeff Davis County arrested three Coffee County residents after one of the suspects had fled the Bacon County Hospital the previous night. According to the Jeff Davis County Sheriff’s Office, early Friday morning, Jeff Davis officials received a be on the lookout from Bacon County regarding a Coffee County man that left the hospital in Alma in connection to a drug trafficking investigation. Officers stated he may be hiding in Jeff Davis County. At approximately 11 a.m., troopers from the Georgia State Patrol noticed a vehicle matching the description of the car from…

In what certainly comes as no surprise, the Georgia Board of Funeral Service officially suspended the licenses of Chris Johnson, the embattled former funeral director in Douglas who has been charged with over 30 felonies after 18 decomposing bodies were found in the Johnson Funeral and Cremation Services building in October while law enforcement officers were serving an eviction notice. The board suspended Johnson’s licenses at a meeting in December. According to the order of suspension, Johnson’s alleged mishandling of the bodies constitutes “willful malpractice or gross neglect in the practice of embalming, funeral directing, or cremating.” The order also…

It’s going to get cold – very, very cold – at the first of next week. The National Weather Service is warning that there is increasing potential for a low (30 percent) chance of winter weather early next week, mainly for southeast Georgia and the Suwannee Valley. The Coffee County Emergency Management Agency released more information regarding the winter weather Thursday night. The statement said that details on the type of winter precipitation (if any) and timing will become clearer over the weekend. There is a large spread in outcomes amongst the weather forecast models, and given it remains…