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Man out on parole is arrested in robberies

Richmond County sheriff's deputies arrested a man early Wednesday morning and charged him with three robberies in downtown Augusta.

Theodore Lamar Reid, 41, of the 900 block of Parks Avenue, was arrested after 3 a.m. at Ninth and Cedar streets and charged with two counts of robbery and one count of robbery by intimidation, along with a felony parole violation.

He is accused of three robberies:

- Budget Inn, 400 block of Broad Street, July 25

- Credit Central Loans, 600 block of Broad Street, Aug. 4

- Coliseum BP, 800 block of Walton Way, Aug. 28.

Mr. Reid was paroled from Homerville State Prison in July 2005, where he was serving a 10-year sentence for a robbery by sudden snatch conviction in 1997.

Former Augusta Mayor Bob Young was edged out for nomination to direct the National Park Service by a career park service employee.

President Bush nominated Mary A. Bomar as national director Tuesday.

Ms. Bomar has served as director of the National Park Service Northeast Region, which covers 13 states. Upon confirmation by the Senate, Ms. Bomar would replace Fran Mainella, who announced in July that she would be resigning as national director.

Mr. Young's name surfaced last week as a contender for the park service job. He is regional director for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

A Richmond County state representative was at a local hospital Wednesday, officials said.

State Rep. Pete Warren was listed in critical condition Wednesday afternoon at University Hospital, said spokeswoman Rebecca Sylvester.

Mr. Warren's wife, Diane, said her husband had several heart problems and had been put on a defibrillator.

Mr. Warren was defeated in the Democratic primary this summer for his District 122 House seat.

A former co-defendant of two brothers on trial for kidnapping told the jury Wednesday the pair were present when a teenager was shot to death.

Attorneys for Alexander Hunsberger and Julio Hunsberger will have the chance to cross-examine Antonio Griffin today as the trial continues in Richmond County Superior Court. Mr. Griffin is serving an 18-year prison sentence.

The brothers are accused of assisting in the kidnapping of 16-year-old Samuel J. Sturrup Jr. on Sept. 3, 2001. The Augusta teenager's remains were found in Edgefield County months later.

A failed local political candidate and downtown Augusta landlord was arrested Wednesday on charges that he cut off a tenant's utility service.

Richmond County jail records show that Robert DeMello Jr., 44, turned himself in after 9 a.m. on a misdemeanor charge of unlawful suspension of a utility.

According to a sheriff's report, Melinda Manning Mauney, 41, of the 400 block of Sibley Street, told deputies that Mr. DeMello had her power cut off, though she said she had not been late on any rent payments.

Mr. DeMello unsuccessfully ran for state Rep. Pete Warren's District 122 seat this year in the Democratic primary. He ran for Betty Beard's District 1 Augusta Commission seat in 2005.

An elderly Martinez man told Richmond County sheriff's deputies that he was assaulted by a panhandler at a restaurant Tuesday, a police report says.

The 72-year-old man said that at 7:50 p.m. he was eating at the Popeye's chicken restaurant in the 2800 block of Wrightsboro Road when the man asked him for money.

He said he had none to give him, and the man slapped him.

A teenager and a 20-year-old woman have been arrested in the assault of a Glenn Hills High School 11th-grader, according to the Richmond County Sheriff's Office.

Latavia Chanise Davis, 17, of the 2400 block of Dublin Place, was charged with aggravated assault, said Lt. James Young. He said Lashanda Yameka Barnett, 20, of the same address, was charged with simple assault.

According to a police report, Tiffany A. Barron, 16, was stabbed in the chest and back while at a home in the 2400 block of Dublin Court on Tuesday night.

A missing 69-year-old Georgia man was found in Aiken on Tuesday.

Robert Horan, of Cave Spring, was spotted by an officer from the Aiken Department of Public Safety at about 8 p.m. at Richland Avenue and Williamsburg Street.

Mr. Horan told the officer he'd run out of gas, but he seemed disoriented, according to a police report.

Mr. Horan told the officer that he'd left his home Tuesday morning to get his wife's medication, the report states.

A single-wide mobile home in northern Columbia County was gutted by fire Wednesday morning, but no one was hurt.

The fire at 5290 Burks Mountain Road in Appling was reported at 11:06 a.m. Martinez-Columbia Fire Rescue firefighters extinguished the blaze within 15 minutes.

The owner of the mobile home, Christopher Woodley, was not at home at the time. The fire was ruled an accident.

An Evans teen who was injured Tuesday in a two-car wreck was listed in good condition at Medical College of Georgia Hospital on Wednesday, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Jeremiah Francis, 17, of the 4000 block of Sussex Drive, was airlifted to MCG after the wreck at Columbia Road and William Few Parkway.

Mr. Francis, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was a passenger in a Dodge Neon driven by Richard Johnson Jr., 17.

The wreck occurred when Mr. Johnson turned into the path of a Lexus LS 400 driven by Terri Elrod Thomas, of Grovetown, at about 6:30 p.m., police said.

Charges are pending, Columbia County sheriff's Capt. Steve Morris said.

- From staff reports