Bo Dukes’s trial began today in Wilcox County. He stands charged with two counts of making false statements, hindering the apprehension of a criminal, and concealing the death of another in the death of Tara Grinstead. Ryan Duke, who has been charged with Grinstead’s murder, will go on trial in Ocilla beginning April 1. District Attorney Bradford Rigby is prosecuting Mr. Dukes and his defense is led by John P. Fox of Macon. Chief Superior Court Judge of the Cordele Circuit Robert Chasteen is presiding in the case and court was called to order in Abbeville at 9:24 AM.…
Author: Staff Reports
Earlier today, the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office announced that three individuals had been arrested for allegedly robbing Evans Grocery at gunpoint in January. Later in the day Friday, the Douglas Police Department released a statement reporting that those same three individuals, along with one other, had also been charged in connection with five other armed robberies in the city – three of which took place at the same store, Flash Foods on North Peterson Avenue. Over the past several months there have been six armed robberies at local convenience stores, both in the City of Douglas and in Coffee…
On Friday, March 15, 2019, the GBI obtained arrest warrants for Jonathan Vann and Keyante Greene in the deaths of three individuals reported missing earlier this week. Vann was charged with two counts of malice murder for the deaths of Wayne Hackle, Jr. and Bobbie Lynn Moore in Atkinson County, Georgia. In Berrien County, Georgia, Vann was also charged with one count of malice murder for the death of Mercedes Hackle and for arson in regards to a burned vehicle that Moore was using. Greene was charged with two counts of concealing the death of another person in…
On Wednesday, March 13, 2019, the GBI arrested Jonathan Douglas Vann, 20, of Nashville, in connection to the disappearance of three persons and subsequent death of two of them. The two deceased are not yet positively identified. The third person is still missing. The Berrien County Sheriff’s Office requested the GBI to assist with the missing persons investigation following the discovery of a vehicle on fire. On Tuesday, March 12, 2019, at approximately 5:30 a.m., the Berrien County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene of a vehicle on fire in the area off Highway 135 at the Alapaha River…
Between Sunday morning and Tuesday morning, three armed robberies took place in Douglas, two of which appear to be related. No arrests have been made in any of the robberies. According to a statement released Monday afternoon on the Douglas Police Department’s Facebook page, the first incident happened between 3:30 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. on Sunday, March 10, 2019, at the north Flash Foods store, 1716 North Peterson Avenue. The DPD’s statement says two black males entered the store and held the clerks at gunpoint while they stole an undisclosed amount of cash. Only one of the subjects brandished…
Saturday, March 2, officers from the Douglas Police Department investigated two unrelated shootings, both of which resulted in arrests. The second shooting was the more interesting of the two. It took place around 7:30 a.m. on March 2. According to a post on the Douglas Police Department’s Facebook page, officers received a call from Coffee Regional Medical Center that an individual, Tadoshi Alexandra Moore, 22, had been brought in with a gunshot wound in the back of his leg. He stated that he was walking along near South Daughtry Avenue and Magnolia Street when he heard a gunshot. The…
At Monday’s county commission work session and general meeting, commissioners discussed a new subdivision near Carver Baptist Church and purchasing four new vehicles for the sheriff’s office, among other items of business. After addressing minor changes to the county employee health plan and the need for new janitor services at the FSA building on East Ward Street, the board reviewed a resolution to submit the 2019 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) application. The application will be seeking federal government funds to be used for street paving and drainage improvements in the Jacobs Circle area. It is necessary per state…
According to a story posted on The Waycross Journal-Herald’s web site, Dana Larson Bowen, 53, of Blackshear, pleaded guilty in Superior Court to three counts of failure to report insurance premiums, two counts of felony insurance fraud, and one count of felony perjury. She was accused of insurance fraud, specifically “knowingly and willfully making fraudulent statements or representations to insurance companies, knowingly and willfully creating and submitting false certificates of insurance or insurance binders, and knowingly and willfully receiving money for the purpose of purchasing insurance and converting such money to her own use without providing the amount of insurance to…
Sunday afternoon, officers from the Douglas Police Department arrested Anton Marquise Phillips, 20, of Homerville, while he was in Douglas. Phillips had been the target of a months-long operation among the DPD, the Clinch County District Attorney’s Office, and several other agencies. When approached by officers, Phillips fled, according to a press release posted on the DPD’s Facebook page, and was caught hiding in a storage building. Phillips was charged with possession of marijuana and obstruction of an officer at the time of his arrest. However, he was wanted for a number of violent felonies, including kidnapping, aggravated assault,…
The Nicholls Police Department and Coffee County Sheriff’s Office assisted authorities from Bacon County and Pierce County solve a multi-county burglary case. The incident originated in Pierce County; the first of two suspects was arrested in Bacon County after hiding out near Nicholls. According to a press release from the Alma Police Department, a burglary took place on Feb. 25, 2019, in Pierce County. Stolen items included 14 guns, two side by side vehicles, an ATV, and a trailer with a zero-turn lawn mower. Together, officers from the Piece County ACE Unit, Alma Police Department, and Bacon County Sheriff’s…