Attorney charged with fraud, embezzlement
The attorney whose ads say, "Tell them you mean business" was indicted on federal charges this week.
Benjamin S. Eichholz, 58, was indicted on 77 counts of money laundering, mail fraud, false statements and obstruction of justice in an alleged scheme to embezzle nearly $1 million, U.S. Attorney Edmund A. Booth Jr. announced Thursday.
Mr. Eichholz, a Savannah-based attorney, is accused of embezzling money from 2001 through October 2008 from his employees' pension benefit plans.
Man who ran over his friend to be paroled
An Augusta man who has served two years of a five-year prison sentence for vehicular homicide is set for parole next week.
According to a notice from the State Board of Pardons and Paroles, Bruce Lee Madden will be released Wednesday.
Mr. Madden, 44, pleaded guilty in Richmond County Superior Court in August 2007. He admitted to being the driver who ran over a friend, 25-year-old James Wills, after Mr. Wills fell out of Mr. Madden's pickup truck on Wylds Road on Aug. 30, 2002.
Mr. Madden has five years to serve on probation once his parole is finished.
Missing Lexington man, 82, is found
Family members said an 82-year-old man who had been missing from Lexington since Wednesday morning was found Thursday night.
Nathaniel Hand, who suffers from diabetes and dementia, was located in Union, S.C., after his vehicle ran out of gas. A family member said he was being evaluated at Union Hospital, but that she had heard he was in good condition.
18-year-old dies from injuries from wreck
An 18-year-old Augusta man died Thursday as a result of injuries he suffered in a Wednesday wreck on Mike Padgett Highway.
James M. Young III, of the 4100 block of Mike Padgett Highway, was pronounced dead at 11:38 a.m. at Medical College of Georgia Hospital's Shock Trauma Unit, according to a release sent by Richmond County Chief Deputy Coroner Mark Bowen.
The wreck occurred on Mike Padgett at Country Place Drive at about 8 p.m. Wednesday as Mr. Young drove a 2005 Chevrolet Impala northbound on Mike Padgett in a left through lane. Authorities say he swerved his vehicle to the right to keep from striking another vehicle, which was northbound in the left through lane. That vehicle was attempting to turn left into Country Place Drive. Mr. Young's vehicle crossed into the right lane, causing Mr. Young to overcorrect and his vehicle to spin out of control and cross the southbound lanes, being struck by a southbound vehicle.
Police seek robber of Citgo station
Authorities were looking for a man they say robbed a Columbia County convenience store Thursday.
At about 1:45 p.m., a man with a handgun walked into the Kangaroo Express Citgo station at 440 S. Belair Road at Interstate 20, said Columbia County sheriff's Sgt. Tommy Cooksey. The man demanded money and ordered the clerk on the floor, fleeing the store with an unknown amount of cash, Sgt. Cooksey said. The clerk described the robber as black, 5 feet, 8 inches tall, 160 pounds, with a neat goatee and wearing blue jeans and a shirt with red, white and blue horizontal stripes.
Anyone with information should call (706) 541-2800.
23-year-old is arrested in death of his mother
A 23-year-old man has been arrested in Jefferson County in the death of his mother.
Eddie Williams Jr., of Hudson Road near Wadley, was arrested Thursday on a murder charge by officers with the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office and Georgia Bureau of Investigation, according to a release.
Authorities say Mr. Williams' mother, Janice Williams, 52, was found at her home on Hudson Road just before noon Tuesday. She was suffering from head injuries, and died just before midnight the same day while being treated at an Augusta hospital.
An autopsy determined Mrs. Williams died from massive head trauma.
Mr. Williams is being held at the Jefferson County Jail, awaiting a first appearance hearing, which has not been set.
Man convicted in two deaths will be paroled
An Augusta man who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the shooting deaths of two men in the early 1990s is scheduled to be released on parole next week.
Jammie Maurice West, 37, has served 16 years in prison for the Nov. 22, 1990, fatal shooting of Anthony Jackson, and the Dec. 5, 1992, shooting death of Benjamin D. Williams. Both victims were shot on Hollaway Drive.
According to a notice from the State Board of Pardons and Paroles, Mr. West is scheduled to be released Tuesday. He was sentenced in Richmond County Superior Court to 20 years.
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