Author: Staff Reports

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…

Deputies from the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office arrested and jailed a 26-year-old on drug charges after stopping him while he was walking down the side of the road around 11 p.m. on January 4, 2025. A report from the sheriff’s office states that a deputy noticed a man, later identified as Austin Blake Lee Musgrove, 26, of Douglas, walking down the side of Bethel Road. There had been several thefts and drug activity in the area, the report states, so the officer stopped Musgrove. He stated he was going to a friend’s house, the report says, but he couldn’t say…

On January 3, 2025, Coffee County deputies arrested Randall Lee Chapman, 36, of Douglas, a convicted sex offender, for failure to register after changing addresses. A report from the sheriff’s office states that on January 3, a detective went to 100 Parkway Road to verify Chapman’s address. An individual at the home stated that Chapman hadn’t been there for a month and he was living with his girlfriend. The detective figured out that the girlfriend’s address was 216 Red Oak Street. The detective and a deputy went to the address and found Chapman there with his girlfriend. When questioned, Chapman…

The Georgia Department of Economic Development team specialized in supporting arts and culture, Georgia Council for the Arts, has announced that Douglas is one of 10 Georgia communities have been selected to host a curated traveling exhibition of works from Georgia’s State Art Collection. The exhibition, “Reimagine: Contemporary Georgia Artists,” is the first of its kind in over a decade and will encourage additional arts and cultural activities that celebrate and increase awareness for the local community and spur tourism. At each of the selected locations, works from that community’s local and regional artists will be exhibited alongside 20 featured…

A 4th Amendment waiver search at a local motel on Christmas night yielded a quantity of suspected illegal drugs. As a result of the search, Walter Gene Outler, 69, of Douglas, who was the subject of the search, and another occupant of the room, Tangela Jackson, 46, also of Douglas, were both arrested and jailed. A report from the Douglas Police Department states that around 10:30 p.m., officers went to a room at a North Peterson Avenue motel. They knocked on the door and announced who they were. They knew that Outler was in the room and that he had…

Friday, a 15-year-old, who was not a student in the Coffee County School System, was arrested at the George Washington Carver Freshman Campus with a handgun. According to the school system, the student was quickly located and arrested without incident. The school system sent a message to all parents on Friday afternoon. The message reads as follows: “Today at the George Washington Carver Freshman Campus, a 15 year old male, who is not a student of the Coffee County School System, was reported to be on campus and in possession of a handgun. Law enforcement and school officials were notified…