Augusta to be featured on TV

Georgia Public Television is featuring Augusta at 8 tonight in an episode of Georgia Traveler.

The show will offer viewers a variety of city scenes, including the Boyhood Home of Woodrow Wilson, a glimpse of the Masters Tournament and the riverwalk.

The Laurel & Hardy Museum in Harlem is also featured in the program.

The episode will also air at 7 p.m. Saturday and Wednesday.

A 42-year-old man and a 29-year-old woman were arrested Thursday and charged with robbing the Security Federal Bank on Whiskey Road in Aiken.

Gregory A. Thompson, of Cutler Circle in Aiken, is also suspected of robbing First Citizens Bank on Silver Bluff Road on Monday, said Lt. David Turno, spokesman for the Aiken Department of Public Safety.

Shannon D. Smith, also of Cutler Circle, is accused of driving the getaway car Thursday. Both she and Mr. Thompson have been charged with felony entering a bank, depository or building and loan association with intent to steal.

Gail Buckner, Democratic nominee for Georgia secretary of state, came to Augusta on Thursday to talk about her plan to prevent fraud when she is elected in November.

Identity theft is the fastest-growing crime in the country, she said, and Georgia has the most mortgage fraud cases in the country. To combat these crimes, Mrs. Buckner said she will form an identity-theft prevention board, an investment-fraud prevention board and a home-repair prevention board, each composed of professionals and citizen advocates.

Richmond County sheriff's deputies are investigating two similar armed robberies.

According to a police report, a 37-year-old man told deputies that at 11:49 p.m. Wednesday, while he was loading items into his car on Wilson Street, he was robbed by three men, one wielding a sawed-off shotgun.

Lt. James Young said that a 21-year-old man also told police that he was robbed at about 2 a.m. in the 600 block of Eve Street by men, one of whom also had a sawed-off shotgun.

Augusta mayoral candidate Steven Kendrick will play host to a soul music concert today at the Jessye Norman Amphitheater on the riverwalk.

The Old School Music Festival will feature three local bands: Joyce McCaster and Victorious Soul, Three-Sixty featuring Persoff Bonner, and Brown Sugar featuring Eric Mayweather.

The 7 p.m. show is free to those with a ticket from Mr. Kendrick's campaign and $5 for walk-up admission.

A 39-year-old Tampa man arrested in Florida nearly eight months ago has been extradited to Aiken this week on carjacking and armed robbery charges.

Michael A. Allen, whose last known address was on the 700 block of Waters Avenue, had been fighting extradition to Aiken County from Florida, said Lt. David Turno, a spokesman for the Aiken Department of Public Safety.

Mr. Allen is accused of pulling a woman from her 2003 Hyundai Tiburon at the Circle K on East Pine Log Road on Feb. 23, throwing her against the gas pumps and fleeing in her car. He's also a suspect in another armed robbery at a different gas station the same day.

Babatunde J. Idowu, 18, pleaded guilty Thursday in Richmond County Superior Court to aggravated battery for his role in the Feb. 28 attack on Carl Turner on the Paine College campus. Neither Mr. Idowu nor the other suspects attended Paine. Judge Duncan D. Wheale sentenced Mr. Idowu to serve 1 years in a state detention center and 8 years on probation under the First Offender Act.

Daminyona McMath, 19, and Herbert Stringer, 16, are also charged in the case. They have pleaded not guilty to aggravated battery and robbery.

A former Evans bank executive will serve two years in prison for embezzling from her employer.

On Thursday in U.S. District Court, Beverly W. Eubanks, 42, also was ordered to repay SunTrust Bank $156,209 and to perform 150 hours of community service. She will have five years of probation after her prison term ends.

Three bank robbery suspects pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court. Demetrius T. Freeman, 24, Vincent Savageau, 26, and Isaac Doby, 52, each pleaded guilty to conspiracy. In addition, Mr. Freeman pleaded guilty to three armed bank robbery charges, and Mr. Savageau pleaded guilty to two armed bank robbery charges.

Mr. Freeman and Mr. Savageau were arrested this spring in connection with a series of bank robberies in Augusta, Martinez and Evans. They are also accused of robbing banks in South Carolina.

A 21-year-old Bath woman has been arrested and charged with putting her infant daughter in harm's way.

The 3-month-old suffered multiple fractures in her arms, legs and ribs while in Christie N. Hutto's care, an Aiken County arrest warrant states.

Ms. Hutto, of the 100 block of Pond Row, was charged Wednesday with unlawful neglect by a legal custodian.

- From staff reports