*A 54-year-old Gainesville man recently reported that he was scammed out of more than $35,000 by what he thought was a book publisher. “Victim sent who he thought was a publishing company $35,600 over four years to publish a book,” Gainesville Police spokesman Kevin Holbrook wrote in an email. The victim, who reported it last week, says it happened between Feb. 1, 2021, and Dec. 31, 2024.
*A 35-yer-old man was booked into the Hall County Jail early Sunday on aggravated sexual battery, aggravated battery, false imprisonment, and criminal trespass charges. He was still there as of mid-morning Sunday and was being held without bond.
*Also locked up recently, a 30-year-old man charged with burglarizing a house. He was picked up at the Oconee County Jail in Watkinsville and placed in the Hall County Jail Friday afternoon.
*Friday is also when a 31-year-old man was charged with possession of meth with intent to distribute, possession of marijuana, and possession of a weapon during the commission of a crime.
*Well, it has been warm out there for the past few days and this is one way to cool off – but it landed this man in the, ahem, “cooler.” The 32-year-old was arrested by Gainesville Police one day last week while walking around a business on Industrial Boulevard “with nothing but a short shirt on,” Lt. Holbrook said. And it appears, according to jail records, that he is back on the streets.