Warrants were issued for a bank teller after he reportedly altered a check and pocketed $100 on two different occasions.
The incidents occurred at the downtown Exchange Bank. The teller, Meet Kartikbhai Patel, was fired after the branch manager reviewed security footage. Patel is accused of shortchanging the customers $100 during the process of cashing the checks and then altering the checks and making the amount written on them $100 less.
Patel is facing two counts of fourth degree forgery.
In other Milledgeville Police Departmentnews:
• A felony theft by taking warrant was issued for Lameka Gray, a now-former Dollar General employee. Gray, who worked at the Elbert Street Dollar General, is accused of “voiding transactions and pocketing the money.” The amount of the thefts was placed at $721.
• A man was arrested after apparently being incapable of staying away from Krystal. Josh Gabriel Crawley, listed with a Sparta address, was charged with one count of criminal trespass.
• Melissa Louise Higgins was arrested for shoplifting at Walmart after reportedly hiding several items of merchandise in her jacket and walking past the final point of sale. Higgins claimed that she has a disability and didn’t remember putting anything in her jacket. She also said that her name was Stephanie Meeks. Higgins was charged with misdemeanor theft by shoplifting and giving false name/ information to law enforcement.
• Officers responded to a female fight in the Edgewood Apartments early Monday morning. Four people were trespassed from the property. “Due to the heightened emotions of all individuals on the scene,” the officers decided to follow up the next day.
• A four-wheeler was reported stolen from the 3020 block of Tomlinson Road.
In Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office news:
• A man was arrested after reportedly dropping off a kitten in a bookbag in front of The Animal Hospital on North Columbia Street.
An employee found the bookbag when she arrived to work. “The cat was covered in urine and feces and without water,” according to the incident report. The business owner then reviewed security footage and called the Sheriff’s Office. Ultimately arrested and charged with one count of cruelty to animals was Chadwick Tyler Rogers, 35.
• Carlton Lamar Wilburn, 43, was charged with felony burglary after reportedly breaking into a house in the 390 block of the Sandersville Highway and stealing jewelry and other items. The homeowners were out of town at the time. The homeowners did, however, have multiple security cameras inside of the home, which helped crack the case.
• Break-ins, thefts and/or entering autos were reported in the 100 block of Maplewood Avenue, the 1730 block of Valley Road, the 130 block of Hillcrest Drive, the 110 block of Hardwick Street and the 190 block of Ga. 49.