James Richard Joines Jr.,56, of McRae-Helena, faces charges of misdemeanor theft by taking and felony interference with government property.
The investigation into the theft began on Sept. 9 when Telfair County Sheriff Sim Davidson requested the GBI’s assistance after the AED was reported missing from the courthouse.
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Investigators said they were able to recover the AED during their inquiry, confirming that it had been removed from the courthouse by Joines.
Joines was arrested and booked into the Telfair County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday.
The investigation remains active, and authorities are seeking additional information from the public. Tips can be submitted anonymously through various channels provided by the GBI.
Once the investigation is complete, the case will be forwarded to the Oconee Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for review.
A Georgia man has been arrested following the shooting of an officer that prompted a blue alert in the Charlotte area.
Around 4 p.m. Saturday, Charlotte-area residents received blue alerts to their phones as police began the search for 26-year-old Timothy Craig Ramsey.
Police told WSB-TV that Captain Brantley Worley with the McCaysville Police Department is in the hospital fighting for his life after Ramsey shot him Friday night.
Officers had been called to First Street in McCaysville to investigate a report about a suspicious person.
Chief Michael Early told WSB-TV that Ramsey opened fire and “brutally shot my officer in the face.”
Ramsey ran off, and law enforcement arrived at the house where he is believed to live, prompting a SWAT standoff. Around 7 a.m., police learned Ramsey was not inside the house, WSB-TV reported.
A manhunt was launched. Officials believed Ramsey could have been in the area of Cherokee County, N.C.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the investigation.
Ramsey was arrested around 6:15 p.m. Saturday.
Worley remains in the hospital in critical condition, suffering a broken neck and a brain bleed from the shooting, WSB-TV reports.
“He needs our prayers,” Earley told reporters.
Officials said Worley has a wife and son, he’s an ordained minister, and a part-time firefighter and EMT for Pickens County Fire Rescue.
WATCH: Widow of deputy marshal killed in Charlotte ambush helps lead concert for heroes
Police arrest man on the run after officer shot, critically injured in North Georgia
A police officer in north Georgia is fighting for his life after being shot late Friday night, and the suspect is on the run.
Police told Channel 2’s Eryn Rogers that Timothy Craig Ramsey, 26, was arrested around 6:15 p.m.
McCaysville Chief of Police Michael Earley confirmed that officers were called to a report of a suspicious person along First Street late Friday night.
When officers arrived, they say Ramsey opened fire, and “brutally shot my officer in the face,” Earley said.
That officer is Captain Brantley Worley, a 3-year veteran of the department.
After the shooting, Ramsey ran off. Officers went to the house where he is believed to live, prompting a SWAT standoff.
Just after 7 a.m., police said they learned he was not in the home, and an all-out manhunt got underway for Ramsey.
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Earley said a tip came in of a person fitting Ramsey’s description just outside the city limits in a wooded area, and Ramsey was taken into custody around 6 p.m. without incident.
“We saw him and apprehended him,” Earley said.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has taken over the investigation into the shooting.
The chief said Ramsey is being booked into the Fannin County Jail and currently is facing at least one charge of aggravated assault with intent to commit murder against a police officer.
As for Worley, he remains in critical condition at Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga, suffering a broken neck and a brain bleed from the shooting.
“He needs our prayers,” Earley told reporters on Saturday night.
Worley has a wife and a small son. He is also an ordained minister.
Pickens County Fire Rescue said that Worley is also a part-time firefighter and EMT with their department.
“Brantley is a brother everyone enjoys being around. He is no doubt a ‘community servant to the bone’!! He has the determination to pull through this unfortunate situation,” they wrote.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp released a statement calling for Georgians to pray for Worley.
“Marty, the girls, and I are asking all Georgians to join us in praying for this officer who was shot in the line of duty, as well as all law enforcement who face this kind of danger on a regular basis to protect their communities.”
The father of Colt Gray, the teen suspect in the Apalachee High School shooting, has been arrested, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced Thursday.
Colin Gray, 54, is being charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children, GBI said. The 14-year-old shooting suspect has been charged with four counts of felony murder.
GBI Director Chris Hosey said at a news conference Thursday night that the charges against Colin Gray stem from “knowingly allowing his son to possess a weapon.” He was in custody and being held at the Barrow County Detention Center, officials said Thursday.
Georgia does not allow minors to own guns. State and federal law also would prohibit the teenage suspect from buying a handgun, rifle or shotgun.
Colin Gray
Barrow County Sheriff’s Office
His son, a student at Apalachee High School, allegedly killed four people, two students and two teachers, when he opened fire at the school in Winder, Georgia, on Wednesday morning. Nine others were wounded and hospitalized, but they were all expected to survive and “make a full recovery,” Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said Thursday. Hospital officials said Thursday that at least seven of those nine patients had been treated and released, and at least one other remained hospitalized in stable condition.
Police and federal agents were investigating if the weapon used in the shooting, described by officials as an AR-style weapon, was purchased by the teen’s father as a gift for his son in December 2023, according to four federal law enforcement sources close to the investigation.
In May of last year, the suspect and his father were both interviewed by the Jackson County Sheriff’s office after the FBI received tips about online posts threatening a school shooting, the FBI said in a statement Wednesday night. At the time, investigators didn’t have enough evidence for an arrest or enough probable cause “to take any additional law enforcement action,” the FBI said.
According to reports from the Jackson County Sheriff’s office released Thursday, the then-13-year-old claimed he deleted the Discord account the threats were made from because it kept getting hacked.
In the incident report, a deputy reported that the teen “assured me he never made any threats to shoot up any school.”
Local police records obtained by CBS News indicate the alleged shooter’s parents were going through a divorce at the time. His mother took custody of two other children in the divorce while the suspect stayed with his father, the records show.
The alleged shooter is being “handled” as an adult, officials said Wednesday, and his first court appearance was scheduled for Friday morning.
Jordan Freiman is a news editor for CBSNews.com. He covers breaking news, trending stories, sports and crime. Jordan has previously worked at Spin and Death and Taxes.
PINEVIEW, Ga. (AP) — Gov. Brian Kemp has suspended a south Georgia mayor who was indicted on charges that he stole nearly $65,000 from his town.
Kemp on Tuesday, April 9th, issued an order suspending from office Brandon Holt, the mayor of Pineview, until his criminal charges are resolved. Under state law, Holt won’t be paid by the 500-resident town during his suspension.
Holt was arrested in January and indicted in March. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation charged Holt with 75 counts of theft by taking, saying he took $64,455 from the town’s bank account between June and October, using the mobile payment service Cash App to transfer the money to his personal bank account 75 times.
Holt is free on bail. His lawyer did not immediately return a phone call and email seeking comment Wednesday.
Under the suspension process, a review commission recommends to Kemp whether the charges impact the accused official’s ability to continue in office. In this case, Attorney General Chris Carr, Warner Robins Mayor LaRhonda Patrick and Macon-Bibb County Mayor Lester Miller recommended Holt be suspended.
Holt has previously been arrested in Bibb County in 2022 on theft by deception and financial identity charges, WMAZ-TV has reported. In an indictment in that case, Holt is accused of stealing more than $22,000 from Macon Asphalt and sending it to two loan companies. Holt has pleaded not guilty in that case and awaits trial.
A 56-year-old Georgia woman was arrested on felony murder charges nearly 35 years after her 5-year-old daughter was found dead, officials announced Monday.
The girl has been known as Baby Jane Doe since her remains were found at an illegal dump site near Millwood, Georgia, in Ware County on Dec. 21, 1988, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Jason Seacrist said during a news conference. Her body was found wrapped up in a blanket inside of a duffel bag, which had been put in a TV cabinet encased in concrete.
The child was identified earlier this year as Kenyatta Odom, the bureau announced Monday. Her mother, Evelyn Odom, and 61-year-old Ulyster Sanders, who was Evelyn Odom’s live-in boyfriend at the time of the child’s death, were arrested Thursday without incident, officials said.
“Baby Jane Doe is no longer unnamed, is no longer unknown, the baby that was thrown out into a trash pile has been identified and we’re working to bring justice to her,” Seacrist said.
A medical examiner concluded in 1988 that the girl’s manner of death was homicide, but a cause of death was never determined, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Investigators were initially unable to identify the girl when her remains were found, officials said. She didn’t match any of the local missing children reports and investigators followed hundreds of leads and tips without success.
One lead, the discovery of an Albany Herald newspaper at the Ware County dumping site, pointed to Albany, Georgia — nearly 100 miles away from where Baby Jane Doe’s body was found.
In 2019, agents looked into genome sequencing to identify the girl, authorities said. They determined a certain family tree from the Albany area was likely related to the girl.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation shared a picture of Kenyatta Odom along with a rendering made based on her remains.
Georgia Bureau of Investigation
“The forensic technology has changed,” Seacrist said. “It has changed the investigative landscape. In 1988, I don’t even know that DNA was on anybody’s mind.”
Even with the genome testing, investigators still weren’t able to positively ID Kenyatta Odom until they got help from a tipster who contacted police after news reports aired on the 2022 anniversary of the girl’s death.
“She knew that there had been a child that had gone missing and that her mother said the child had gone to live with her father,” Seacrist said about the tipster. “This person never really believed that story.”
Evelyn Odom and Sanders were charged with felony murder, first-degree cruelty to children, aggravated battery, concealing a death and conspiracy to conceal the death of another person.
Sanders and Evelyn Odom were dating at the time of the girl’s death. Officials did not say what their current relationship is.
“We believe that there is evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that will lead to justice being found for Kenyatta,” Dougherty District Attorney Greg Edwards said.
Officials did not share a possible motive in the case.
Aliza Chasan is a digital producer at 60 Minutes and CBSNews.com. She has previously written for outlets including PIX11 News, The New York Daily News, Inside Edition and DNAinfo. Aliza covers trending news, often focusing on crime and politics.
