Author: Staff Reports

Rhianna Lewis, daughter of Ron and Julee Brooke Lewis and a Class of 2025 honor graduate, has received the James B. Duke Scholarship from Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina. Davidson is a private liberal arts college and is consistently ranked as one of the top schools in the country. Rhianna, who will graduate in the Davidson Class of 2029, is one of five James B. Duke Scholars chosen nationwide. The scholarship covers full tuition and fees, totaling $69,315 for Rhianna’s freshman year. To keep the scholarship all four years, she will have to maintain a cumulative 3.0 GPA, continue…

A 31-year-old Douglas woman who was arrested in February on animal cruelty charges has been arrested again, this time on a variety of charges related to an alleged April 19, 2025, domestic dispute. According to an incident report from the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded to a residence on Megan Road at around 8:40 p.m. on April 19. When they arrived, the victim had left and walked to another incident. The victim, a male, said he was at his brother’s house when his brother and Sarah Davis, 31, began arguing. Sarah is his brother’s girlfriend. When the two started…

It may not appropriate to use a baseball analogy in a football story but here goes anyway – talking about hitting a home run! The Appling County Pirates have landed one of the winningest football coaches in the state. Earlier today, the Appling County School System announced that Tucker Pruitt will be the next head coach for the Pirates. Coach Pruitt has been the head coach at Fitzgerald since 2017. His teams have made the playoffs every year of his tenure. Since 2020, he has made the semifinals twice and the finals three times, winning one state title in 2021…

On April 12, 2025, a Douglas police officer pursued two vehicles traveling south out the city at a high rate of speed and ended up making one arrest on multiple charges. According to a report from the Douglas Police Department, just after 10 p.m., an officer saw the two vehicles traveling side by side well in excess of the 45 mph posted speed limit. The officer turned his vehicle around at Airport Circle to stop the cars. The report says that the officer finally caught up to the cars near St. Paul Catholic Church. He stopped the car that was…

The Robert Toombs Christian Academy Crusaders finally woke up Thursday afternoon. After losing games to the CCA Patriots Monday and Tuesday by a combined score of 21-1, the Crusaders defeated the Patriots 12-2 in six innings Thursday in Lyons. CCA managed just two hits in the contest. Despite their woes against Crusaders starting pitcher Brittan Tabor, the Patriots at one time held a 2-1 lead. It just didn’t last very long. The Crusaders scored a run in the bottom of the first. Tabor helped his own cause a little – he singled to right, scoring Christian Mixon for the game’s…

A Catoosa County man who had been convicted of computer pornography and was serving his prison sentence at Coffee Correctional Facility was taken into the custody of the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office on April 14, 2025, after he was released from prison. Nathaniel Kenneth Hartwell, 54, finished his prison sentence in Nicholls but was wanted in Tennessee on more sex crime charges. According to a report from the sheriff’s office, officials in Chattanooga, Tennessee, have a warrant on Hartwell for sexual exploitation of a minor dating back to May 29, 2013. Officers in Tennessee have notified the sheriff’s office that…

A disturbance call west of Douglas after a 51-year-old wouldn’t calm down following the arrival of sheriff’s deputies, according to a press release from the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office. The release states that on the evening of April 23, 2025, deputies responded to a disturbance call at a home located in the area of West Baker Highway and Willis Vickers Road. Upon arrival, law enforcement made contact with individuals at the residence and identified the suspect as 51-year-old Christopher M. Broome. The release states that Broome became aggressive and confrontational and was damaging property at the home. Deputies observed a…

A chase that began in the Oak Park area of Douglas went east into Nicholls then came back into Douglas before a deputy eventually PIT’ed the suspect on East Walker Street. Thursday night, an officer attempted to stop a black Lexus ES350 in the Oak Park community. The officer saw the vehicle traveling without headlights after dark and attempted a traffic stop. Initially, the driver appeared to comply. However, a passenger exited the vehicle and fled on foot. Moments later, the driver accelerated, leading deputies on a high-speed chase. The driver headed out New Forest Highway to Sandhill Church Road.…

If you’re riding a bicycle, you’ve got to follow the same rules of the road that a car driver does. On the evening of April 21, 2025, Anthony Charles McGuffin learned that lesson the hard way. According to a press release from the sheriff’s office, on the aforementioned date, an officer saw McGuffin riding a bicycle against the flow of traffic. Deputies conducted a traffic stop and found a small container containing a white powdery substance and a number of pills, according to the release. They conducted a field test and, the release states, confirmed McGuffin was in possession of…

A search warrant executed by detectives from the Coffee County Drug Unit yielded a quantity of suspected methamphetamine and landed a 48-year-old Douglas woman in jail on illegal drug charges. According to a report from the drug unit, detectives executed the warrant at 550 Greenfield Circle in Green Acres after receiving multiple complaints about illegal drug activity at the home. During the investigation, officers found suspected methamphetamine, digital scales, and other drug paraphernalia. As a result, the resident of the home, Sue Brown, 48, was arrested and charged with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute. She was transported to…