A man found guilty last week of raping a 4-year-old girl at his Delk Road apartment was given two life sentences plus 120 years.
Frederick Wade Sherwood, 48, was convicted Friday by a Cobb Superior Court jury of all charges, including rape, aggravated sodomy and child molestation, according to the Cobb District Attorney’s Office.
The sentence was handed down by Cobb Superior Court Judge Grant Brantley.
Prosecutors said the attacks occurred between 2014 and 2015 in Sherwood’s Delk Road apartment (according to Cobb Sheriff’s Office, his home address is listed as 2650 Delk Road, the Stratford Ridge Apartments).
Prosecutors said the girl was four years old when the assaults began, and she disclosed the abuse to family members in early 2016.
During the trial, according to the DA’s office, she clutched a stuffed animal on the witness stand, saying she initially told no one about the abuse because she feared Sherwood would be mad at her.
A male witness testified during the trial to having been sexually abused by Sherwood years before in another city.
“Any time a small child has to face their abuser in court is particularly difficult,” Cobb assistant district attorney Katie Gropper, who prosecuted the case, said in a statement.
“We are always hopeful that the judicial process is an empowering step towards healing. While we can’t undo the harm the Defendant caused to this child, the jury’s verdict will help bring a sense of justice and closure and ensure that Mr. Sherwood can never harm another child in our community.”
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Lt. Nathan McCreary of the Cobb Police Precinct 4 criminal investigations unit has sent out an alert today about a moving company scam that has claimed an East Cobb resident as a victim:
A citizen hired a moving company to move his entire life’s possession to a different state. The moving company had a website and seemed reputable. Once they arrived at the home and packed the victim’s belongings, the truck left the location and never delivered the property.
The victim then received phone calls stating his property was being held ransom and he needed to pay a large sum of money in order to get his property back. Once this was reported to police, one of our amazing detectives, Det. S. Penirelli, began looking into the case.
She found that the FBI and DOT investigators are currently working similar cases involving a Russian Crime Group. She identified a suspect and found a storage company that had two units rented in the name of the suspect, who was of Russian descent. A search warrant was obtained and a portion of the victim’s property was located in a storage unit.
The same unit was scheduled to go up for auction for non-payment for the storage unit. The storage company was cooperative and allowed the property to remain at their secure location until the victim could arrange to have it removed.
Warrants were obtained for the suspect, but he is likely no longer in the state of Georgia. Detective Penirelli is currently working with the DOT investigators to find potential locations of the remaining property.
Police are also encouraging you to consult with the Better Business Bureau, which has moving scam resources. More also from the U.S. Justice Department about a recent caseinvolving moving scammers.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The former roommate and business partner of an East Cobb man murdered in 2014 has been arrested and charged with plotting the killing, and then conspiring to conceal it.
Ross Allyson Byrne, 55, of Woodstock, was booked on murder and other felony charges on Thursday afternoon, according to the Cobb Sheriff’s Office.
He was arrested at The Best Dang Bakery Around on Highway 92 in Woodstock and is being held without bond at the Cobb Adult Detention Center, according to jail information.
Byrne is charged with three counts of felony murder, one count of malice murder, two counts of conspiracy to commit a felony and racketeering, Cobb Sheriff’s Office records show.
According to an indictment issued by a Cobb grand jury on Thursday, Byrne is accused of orchestrating the murder of Jerry Moore, who was found stabbed 32 times at his home of Holly Springs Road on Jan. 25, 2014.
Byrne’s arrest comes nearly two weeks after Johnathan Allen Wheeler was convicted of the murder in Cobb Superior Court and sentenced to two consecutive life terms without parole.
Wheeler worked at the bakery, which was operated by Byrne, and where Moore had been an equal partner, according to Cobb prosecutors. They said the business had been struggling and Moore wanted to end the partnership.
According to the indictment, the “primary purpose” for murdering Moore “was to steal an interest in the business of Best Dang Bakery (or bakery) as well as other property and things of value,” forming the basis of the racketeering charge.
The indictment further states that Byrne and Moore, who opened the bakery in 2008, each held a $35,000 investment; Byrne oversaw day-to-day operations while Moore handled finances.
According to the indictment, the partnership agreement stated that in the case of the death of one of the partners, “the interest of the deceased member shall be transferred to the other surviving Member or Members.”
Jerry Moore was 46 when he was found stabbed to death at his East Cobb home in Jan. 2014. (Photo: Cobb District Attorney’s Office)
By late 2013, the indictment states, the partnership was troubled. There were disputes about how to run the business, and Moore was concerned about Byrne’s spending habits.
The indictment states that by January 2014, Moore was planning to end his business partnership with Byrne and concludes that “it is unlikely” Byrne would have been able to buy out Moore’s share of the bakery.
Moore had gone as far as to draft the terms of dissolving the partnership, according to the indictment.
By then, Wheeler was no longer working at the bakery but still had a “close relationship with Byrne, whom he considered a mentor, the indictment states.
By the first of the year in 2014, according to the indictment, Byrne moved out of the home he shared with Moore on Gracewood Drive, off Holly Springs Road and north of Post Oak Tritt Road.
The indictment alleges that Byrne plotted to have Wheeler—who was released from jail in 2010 after serving 10 years in Cobb and Cherokee for robbery and assault—commit aggravated assault, burglary and theft.
Prosecutors allege that Wheeler and Byrne were in contact before, during and after the murder. Afterward, prosecutors say, Wheeler went to Byrne’s new residence in Woodstock, where he showered and was offered a change of clothes.
Wheeler returned to Moore’s home and with his cousin, Cynthia Wheeler, cleaned up the premises and stole household items, according to prosecutors. She pleaded guilty in 2016 to those charges.
The indictment states that Byrne stole Moore’s partnership interest and as of his arrest still was the owner of the bakery.
Byrne also helped Johnathan Wheeler and Cynthia Wheeler pay bills and purchased a truck for the former that was returned, according to the indictment.
Johnathan Allen Wheeler
The indictment states that Byrne had been interviewed by the police shortly after the murder but denied any involvement and said nothing about Wheeler, who was arrested on Aug. 16, 2014
Byrne and Wheeler continued to stay in touch over the next four years, according to the indictment, both over the phone and in writing, and prosecutors say they have recordings of conversations between the two. The indictment also states that written correspondence from Wheeler was found in Byrne’s possession when authorities obtained a search warrant earlier this week.
The indictment didn’t detail the subject matter of that correspondence, nor did it describe the recorded conversations.
In arguments to the jury at Wheeler’s trial, Cobb assistant district attorney Jesse Evans called the murder “a relentless, sustained, malicious attack by a cold-blooded killer. . . The defendant [Wheeler] pursued, out of greed and out of malice. No human being should ever have this inflicted on them.”
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Marietta Police say a 24-year-old woman was strangled to death at her home in the Merritt Road area early Thursday, and that they have charged a man living there with her murder.
The body of Xi-anna Graham was discovered at her home at 697 Bonnie Dell Drive around 4 a.m. Thursday, according to police, who said there had been an “ongoing domestic dispute.”
The suspect taken into custody is Christopher Gene Scarboro, 27, whom police said resided at the home with Graham and her four children.
He has been charged with felony homicide, aggravated assault and third-degree child cruelty. According to the Cobb Sheriff’s Office, Scarboro is being held without bond.
Marietta Police said the investigation into the murder continues and that anyone with information should contact Det. Michael Selleck at 770-794-5372.
Police said anyone who’s been abused or knows someone who has should seek help immediately. Resources include contacting 1-800-33-HAVEN, as well as the National Domestic Violence Hotline. It’s available 24/7/365 in English and Spanish via website chat, phone call or text at 800-799-7233.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
According to Cobb District Attorney’s office information, Spencer Wayne Herron, 48, was indicted in the past week on five counts of sexual assault of a student.
Herron, who had been a video teacher at Kell for 16 years, was named the school’s teacher of the year two years ago.
Arrest warrants indicate Herron has been accused of having sex multiple times with a student on campus from early 2016 through the 2017-18 school year.
Herron was taken to the Cobb County Adult Detention Center on June 1, and remains there on a $50,000 bond, according to Cobb Sheriff’s Office records.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Marietta Police said today they’ve made four arrests for human trafficking activity they say was taking place at a motel in the Delk Road area.
Police said they got a 911 call early Monday morning from a 15-year-old girl who said she was forced to have sex with multiple men in a room at the Days Inn (2191 Northwest Parkway). The girl said she was told she would be killed if she tried to leave, according to police.
Police said Marietta detectives rescued the girl and took out search warrants for two rooms at the Days Inn, arresting three suspects there and another at a nearby motel.
Marietta Police say the following individuals have been charged and were taken into custody at the Cobb County Adult Detention Center Monday afternoon:
Kamari Bolden, 22, of Atlanta, trafficking;
Laura Waugh, 17, of Morrow, trafficking and giving a false name and date of birth;
Kenneth Thomas, 22, of Fairburn, keeping a place of prostitution and pimping;
Douglas White, 26, of Dallas, trafficking and pimping.
Bolden, Thomas and White are being held without bond and Waugh is being held on a $25,000 bond, according to Cobb Sheriff’s Office records.
Police said the investigation is continuing and anyone with information is asked to call Marietta Police Detective Mark Erion at 770-794-5363.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
A Stockbridge man convicted for an East Cobb murder more than four years ago was sentenced to two consecutive life terms without parole on Monday.
Cobb Superior Court Judge Mary Staley Clark issued the sentence to Johnathan Allan Wheeler Monday afternoon, not long after he was found guilty of malice murder by a jury.
Wheeler, now 35, was on trial last week for the murder of Jerry L. Moore, who was found stabbed 32 times at his home on Gracewood Drive, off Holly Springs Road, on Jan. 25, 2014.
Wheeler also was convicted of felony murder, aggravated assault, armed robbery and first-degree burglary, according to the Cobb District Attorney’s Office.
Cobb prosecutors said during the trial that Wheeler worked at a Woodstock bakery run by Moore’s roommate, Ross Byrne. Moore, who was 46 at the time of his death, was a half-owner in the business but wanted to get out, according to assistant Cobb District Attorney Jesse Evans.
Evans said during the trial that Byrne had been a business mentor to Wheeler and had moved out of Moore’s home a few weeks before the murder. After the stabbings, Evans said, Wheeler went to Byrne’s residence.
Wheeler’s cousin testified during the trial that he confessed to the murder. Cynthia Wheeler agreed to testify against Wheeler after being sentenced in 2016 for helping him clean up the home after the crime and stealing household items there.
The Cobb DA also said that Wheeler confessed to the murders to his brother and stepfather, both of whom testified at the trial.
“This was a relentless, sustained, malicious attack by a cold-blooded killer,” Evans told jurors in his closing statements while showing them pictures at the crime scene, according to the DA’s office. “The defendant pursued, out of greed and out of malice. No human being should ever have this inflicted on them.”
Wheeler served nearly a decade in prison for robbery and assault in Cobb and Cherokee counties, and was released in 2010.
Over the last two years, Wheeler had written frequently from the Cobb County Adult Detention Center to the court in pleas for a speedy trial, according to documents filed with the Cobb Superior Court Clerk’s office.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The latest Cobb Police Precinct 4 crime statistics reveal some good news about burglaries and car break-ins.
In its monthly PENs notification message for July, Precinct 4 officers said that 32 residential burglaries have been reported since May, down 43 percent from this time a year ago.
Vehicle break-ins are also down a bit, from 107 from May-July 2017 to 101 this summer.
What police are continuing to encourage you to do, as they always do, is keep your vehicles locked at all times.
In recent weeks the department has been issuing social media reminders to lock up and stay safe, whether at home or in your car.
Cobb Police are calling this the #9pmReminder. Each evening at this time, the messages go out on their social media accounts for you to do the following:
Lock all doors (even back doors and porch doors)
Leave exterior lights on (they deter loitering and burglars)
Pull your car in the garage, if possible, and remove your valuables, LOCK, and CLOSE the garage door (just because your car is in a garage, doesn’t mean it is secure).
Bring all items of value indoors (lawn decorations, toys, etc.).
Bring in mail (it has your information on it and is sought by those who want to steal your identity).
Set your alarms before bed (burglars do not like audible alarms).
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
An Atlanta man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for robbing a Navy sailor after an evening at a Marietta nightclub two years ago, pistol-whipping him and leaving him naked near Bells Ferry Road.
Cortlyn Javon Martin, 26, was convicted by a Cobb jury in June of armed robbery, kidnapping, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during commission of a felony.
On Thursday, he was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Lark Ingram.
Martin was a patron at the Club Rio, near the South Marietta Parkway and Franklin Gateway, on June 18, 2016, when he left the club with the sailor and other men by car, according to the Cobb District Attorney’s office.
The sailor was driving when Martin, sitting in the back seat, began pistol-whipping him, the DA’s office said, adding that Martin robbed the driver after forcing him to withdraw $500 from a bank ATM in Kennesaw.
The DA’s office said Martin then forced the victim to strip naked, and left him near Bells Ferry Road.
Martin, who was arrested two months after the incident, will be credited for the two years he has been in custody, according to the DA’s office.
“This defendant preyed upon an active-duty military member who was visiting Georgia for the first time on military leave,” assistant Cobb district attorney Kaitlin Southmayd said in a statement. “We are thankful for our victim’s service to his country and his willingness to tell his terrifying account to the jury.”
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Alyssa Prindle had recently graduated from Pope High School.
An East Cobb teenage girl who fell out of a moving car on Johnson Ferry Road earlier this month has died, and an arrest warrant has been issued for the driver.
Cobb Police Officer Sarah O’Hara said in a release this morning that Alyssa Prindle, 18, who suffered serious injuries in the incident, died Wednesday at WellStar Kennestone Hospital.
O’Hara said that the Cobb County Magistrate has issued an arrest warrant for Abigail Cook, 17, also of East Cobb, for 1st degree vehicular homicide.
According to police, Cook was driving a silver 2001 Hyundai Santa Fe northbound on Johnson Ferry Road near Sewell Mill Road around 2 a.m. on July 5 when Prindle, a backseat passenger, rolled down a window and began hanging out of the vehicle.
Police said Prindle was yelling and screaming and then fell out of the Hyundai. She was taken to Kennestone and placed in ICU, and O’Hara said this morning that she never left the hospital before dying of her injuries.
Cook was booked in the Cobb County Adult Detention Center and charged with DUI, reckless driving, serious injury by vehicle (a felony), underage possession of alcohol, possession of false identification and a violation of class D drivers license hour restrictions. She later bonded out of jail, according to Cobb Sheriff’s Office records.
A GoFundMe page had been set up by Prindle’s family to pay for medical expenses, but a message posted there Thursday announced that Prindle, a Pope High School graduate, “lost her fight. Her body just couldn’t keep going. There were too many injuries, and the doctors just couldn’t do anything else for her.”
The message continued:
“Please pray for our family as we go through a difficult next few days together.
“Her parents are Todd and Julie, and her 15-yr old brothers are Kyler and Bailey. We would love for you to be praying for them by name, as well as her extended family.”
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The Cobb Sheriff’s Office said Pruitt has been captured and arrested.
The sheriff’s office and Cobb Police responded to a suspicious person call at a residence at 1631 Wildwood Road, located between Roswell Road and the North Marietta Parkway.
Pruitt was identified by both law enforcement agencies and was taken to the Cobb County Adult Detention Center, where he had been incarcerated since May for a probation violation, the Cobb Sheriff’s Office said.
ORIGINAL REPORT, POSTED 4:24 P.M.:
Cobb Sheriff Neil Warren said a county jail inmate escaped a work detail at Fullers Park today.
He said Christopher Shane Pruitt walked away from a cleanup at Fullers Park on Robinson Road in East Cobb around 11 a.m.
Pruitt is incarcerated for a probation violation after an original charge of theft by taking of a motor vehicle.
Warren said Pruitt is a white male, 47 years old, about 6-foot-4 and 250 pounds.
Pruitt was last seen in a white shirt and pants with a blue stripe on his pants leg. The back of the shirt says “COBB COUNTY PRISONER.”
Warren said he’s not considered an immediate danger to the public, but if you see him do not approach him. Instead, call the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office at 770-499-4639.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Cobb Police said today they have arrested Clint Vance, 32, of Kennesaw, on three charges of vandalism to a place of worship. Those are felony offenses, and police said investigators expect more charges to be filed in Cobb and Cherokee counties.
Vance was booked into the Cobb County Adult Detention Center shortly after midnight Wednesday, according to the Cobb Sheriff’s Office, which said Vance’s bail has been set at $8,470.
East Cobb News does not publish photographs of crime suspects before their cases have gone through the legal system, and then only if they are convicted or plead guilty and are sentenced.
ORIGINAL REPORT, POSTED July 10, 7:08 p.m.
Cobb Police on Tuesday said they’re expanding their investigation into a series of recent church vandalisms that includes Noonday Baptist Church in Northeast Cobb.
Police announced on June 18 they were looking for a lone male suspect, between the ages of 35 and 50, and believed he was driving a Hyundai Elantra.
In a release issued late Tuesday afternoon by Cobb Police, Public Information Officer Sarah O’Hara said police are also investigating that a Honda Accord “or [a] like-styled four-door sedan” may be the suspect vehicle.
A photo at Noonday was taken by a church surveillance camera on May 8, shortly after 3 a.m., and shows a male standing on a sidewalk near the church entrance and next to a vehicle with the driver door open.
However, O’Hara said, police have been unable to identify the color of the car because of the black and white footage.
Cobb Police said last month that a male suspect they believed to be working along spray-painted “vulgar” and offensive messages on churches, including satanic messages and “what can best be described as sacrilegious symbols to include crosses with circles around them and lines striking through them.”
O’Hara said police believe the vandalisms took place from April 29 to June 1, and said that the Church of Christ at North Cobb, on Shiloh Road in Kennesaw, has been vandalized three times. She said “satanic messages and offensive language” were spray painted there, and that a private residence also is included in the investigation.
Police said the suspect is partially balding with brown hair, and weighing between 230 to 280 pounds. He is approximately between 5-foot-10 and 6-foot-2 and has a “distinctive gait” that was spotted on the security footage.
O’Hara said anyone with information about the vandalisms is asked to call the Criminal Investigation Unit of Cobb Police Precinct 1 at 770-590-5769.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
An East Cobb teenager was admitted to the intensive care unit at WellStar Kennestone Hospital after she fell out of a moving car on Johnson Ferry Road early Thursday morning.
Another teen was arrested and charged with DUI and other offenses stemming from the incident. Cobb Police said it took place shortly before 2 a.m. Thursday on Johnson Ferry, south of Sewell Mill Road.
Cobb Police spokeswoman Sarah O’Hara said a driver and two passengers were traveling in a silver 2001 Hyundai Santa Fe northbound on Johnson Ferry. One of the passengers, sitting in a rear seat, rolled down a window and began hanging out of it, “yelling and screaming,” according to police.
The passenger, identified by O’Hara as Alyssa Prindle, 18, of an East Cobb address, fell out of the window and hit the road, suffering serious injuries. She was taken to Kennestone, and the driver of the car, Abigail Cook, 17, of Wood Thrush Way in East Cobb, was arrested and booked in the Cobb County Adult Detention Center, O’Hara said.
Cook is charged with underage DUI, reckless driving, serious injury by vehicle (a felony), underage possession of alcohol, possession of false identification and a violation of class D drivers license hour restrictions.
According to the Cobb Sheriff’s Office, Cook was released Thursday night on a $27,720 bond.
O’Hara said underage alcohol consumption is a contributing factor in the incident, which remains under investigation. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Cobb County Police Department’s STEP Unit at 770-499-3987.
East Cobb News does not publish photographs of crime suspects before their cases have gone through the legal system, and then only if they are convicted or plead guilty and are sentenced.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
This just in from Cobb Police: Officer Robert New, a Precinct 4 patrol officer charged last week with aggravated assault and criminal solicitation, has resigned.
Cobb Police said in a release issued at 6:11 p.m. Monday that New’s resignation is effective immediately.
There was no other information provided by Cobb Police, who were conducting what Chief Mike Register said last week was an administrative complaint filed against him.
New remains in the Cobb County Adult Detention Center without bond, and is scheduled to have a bond hearing on July 10.
Police determined the woman, who said New had slapped her face and choked her, had the mental capacity of a 10-to-14-year-old.
Register said at a press conference last Monday that the department was acting “with the intent to reach a timely decision” about New’s employment status and said he had been placed on administrative leave without pay.
On Wednesday, police filed additional charges against New, of criminal solicitation and child pornography by use of wireless internet, involving a 12-year-old girl.
New started with Cobb Police in Precinct 4 in 2005 and served on the department’s DUI task force before returning to Precinct 4.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Cobb Police said Thursday that Officer Robert New has been charged with criminal solicitation and computer pornography involving the use of wireless internet. Police said they’re investigating with the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office.
Both of the new charges are felonies. Warrant information indicates that New attempted to solicit a 12-year-old girl and another female related to her via text.
New, 46, who has been a patrol officer at the East Cobb-based Precinct 4, remains in the Cobb County Adult Detention Center without bond.
He was arrested at his home on Hawkins Store Road and charged with assault and battery involving a woman in an off-duty incident. New is accused of slapping and choking a 44-year-old woman in a sexual encounter in March.
At a press conference Tuesday, Cobb Police Chief Mike Register said investigators believe New met the woman online. After a forensic interview with the woman, he said, they determined she had the mental capacity of a child between 10 and 14 years of age.
Register also said the department is responding to a non-criminal administrative complaint against New by another woman.
New had his first hearing with a Cobb Magistrate Court judge Tuesday and was told his bond hearing would be July 10. He has been placed on administrative leave without pay by Cobb Police.
New began his Cobb Police career at Precinct 4 and served on the department’s DUI task force before returning to Precinct 4.
East Cobb News does not publish photographs of crime suspects before their cases have gone through the legal system, and then only if they are convicted or plead guilty and are sentenced.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
A Cobb Police officer charged with aggravated assault stemming from an off-duty incident with a woman has been placed on unpaid administrative leave while an internal investigation against him continues.
At a brief news conference Tuesday afternoon, Cobb Police Chief Mike Register said Officer Robert L. New has been a patrol officer at Precinct 4 in East Cobb.
According to the Cobb Sheriff’s Office, New was booked late Monday night on a felony charge of aggravated assault-strangulation and a misdemeanor charge of simple battery. He remains in the Cobb County Adult Detention Center without bond, according to jail records.
Register said New was arrested around 10 p.m. at his home after police received a complaint on Saturday “concerning acts of violence with an adult female.”
Cobb Police began an investigation led by Capt. Everett Cebula, head of internal affairs and until recently the deputy commander at Precinct 4, and the department’s sexual victims unit.
Register didn’t specify the acts, although an arrest warrant indicates New is accused of slapping and choking the woman during a sexual encounter sometime in March at his home on Hawkins Store Road.
Register said it’s “fairly certain” New met the woman online.
The chief said a forensic interview with the woman determined that she had a mental capacity of between 10 and 14 years of age.
Register said in response to a media question about the incident that “both parties consented, but the actions that took place during the encounter brought us to take out warrants against Officer New.”
Register said search warrants have been taken out for “where the incident occurred” and that portion of the investigation is continuing.
He also said the department is acting “with the intent to reach a timely decision” about New’s employment status.
Register said New started with Cobb Police in February 2005 and was assigned to Precinct 4 in East Cobb. He later served on the department’s DUI Task Force before returning to Precinct 4.
“We will do the right thing for the victim and the process for the officer,” Register said.
East Cobb News does not publish photographs of crime suspects before their cases have gone through the legal system, and then only if they are convicted or plead guilty and are sentenced.
UPDATED, Wednesday, June 20, 1:11 P.M.: On Tuesday night, New briefly appeared before a Cobb Magistrate Judge at the Cobb jail, and was told he would have a July 10 bond hearing.
New remains in custody without bond.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
An East Cobb woman has been charged by Cobb Police with reckless conduct and cruelty to children for leaving a baby in her car while she went shopping last month.
Shoba Marudur, of Ashworth Glen Court in East Cobb, was booked and released on a $10,000 bond on Sunday, May 27, the same day of the incident, according to Cobb Sheriff’s Office records.
According to media reports, Marudur was shopping at the T.J. Maxx store at Providence Square Shopping Center on Roswell Road on a hot afternoon when other shoppers noticed a crying infant girl alone in a car, without windows cracked, and called 911. They also went into to the store to seek out the child’s parent.
The reckless conduct charge against Marudur is a misdemeanor, while the second-degree cruelty to children charge is a felony.
East Cobb News does not publish photographs of crime suspects before their cases have gone through the legal system, and then only if they are convicted or plead guilty and are sentenced.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
A Kell High School teacher arrested on Friday for sexual assault remains in the Cobb County Adult Detention Center today.
Spencer Wayne Herron, 48, was taken into custody at his Acworth home Friday afternoon. He has been charged with three felony counts of sexual assault by a teacher or school administrator.
His bail has been set at $50,000, according to the Cobb Sheriff’s Office.
Herron, who has been a video teacher at Kell for 16 years, was named the school’s teacher of the year two years ago.
Arrest warrants indicate Herron has been accused of having sex multiple times with a student on campus from early 2016 through the school year that just ended last month.
This past school year, Herron was a member of the Cobb County School District’s Superintendent’s Teacher Advisory Council.
East Cobb News does not publish photographs of crime suspects before their cases have gone through the legal system, and then only if they are convicted or plead guilty and are sentenced.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Updating a story from a couple of weeks ago: Marietta Police say they have taken into custody a second suspect wanted for a Bells Ferry Road murder last month.
Marietta Police said their detectives and the FBI’s Safe Streets Gang Task Force arrested Je’Marquise Wright, 17, in connection with the murder of 19-year-old Tyon Gorman.
Gorman was found lying in front of businesses at a small strip shopping center on Bells Ferry Road at Williams Drive with a gunshot wound, according to police, who said a vehicle left the area after the shooting and was heading north on Bells Ferry Road.
Police said Gorman died at WellStar Kennestone Hospital, and Mehki Hilali, 18, was arrested on May 3 and charged with murder, aggravated battery, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime and aggravated assault with intent to murder.
Police had asked for the public’s help in finding Wright, who is charged with murder, aggravated battery, aggravated assault with intent to murder and street gang terrorism.
He is being held without bail, according to Cobb Sheriff’s Office records, which indicated that Wright was apprehended at 2121 Windy Hill Road, the address for an apartment complex, and booking began around 3 p.m. today.
Marietta Police said they found “multiple weapons and narcotics” in Wright’s possession when he was arrested, and that additional charges are pending.
Marietta Police said they have made all the arrests they expect to make in the case but that anyone with information should call their detectives line directly at 770-794-6990 or contact Crime Stoppers Atlanta at 404-577-TIPS if they wish to remain anonymous.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
An East Cobb man has been arrested and charged with criminal solicitation of a child after attempting to purchase a 7-year-old girl from an East Cobb Kroger store on Monday, Cobb Police said.
Einodd Samimi, 62 or 63 years old, is in the Cobb County Adult Detention Center, charged with felony counts of criminal solicitation and enticing a child, according to Cobb Sheriff’s Office information.
Cobb Police said a woman and her granddaughter were at the Kroger store at 2100 Roswell Road, in the Pavilions at East Lake Shopping Center, around 7 p.m. Monday, when the grandmother said she noticed a man following them.
She said the man was making “inappropriate comments” and offered to buy the child for $200, police said.
According to Cobb Police, “the grandmother confronted the male when he asked to purchase her granddaughter at the Kroger, and a ‘large crowd’ of shoppers chased the male through the store and to his vehicle.”
Police added that detectives arrested Samimi at his home. The place of arrest noted by the Cobb Sheriff’s Office is on Coventry Township Place, located off Barnes Mill Road, near the Kroger.
Samimi, who was born in Iran, is being held on $20,000 bond, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Police said the grandmother also told them the same man previously had offered her $100 for the child at a Wal-Mart on Cobb Parkway.
Cobb Police said they’re continuing to investigate and anyone with information is asked to contact the Cobb County Crimes Against Children unit at 770-801-3470.
The arrest of Samimi was announced as Cobb Police also said they have arrested a man who allegedly tried to kidnap an 11-year-old girl in a public restroom at Town Center Mall on Tuesday.
Police said the suspect came out of a stall and threatened the girl with a knife while her father waited for her outside the restroom.
Police said the girl screamed and escaped, and the suspect was chased down by mall patrons in a food court before being caught.
Cobb Police say they’re looking for witnesses with information about a female whom they think was involved in the incident, but who got away.
Police say the woman may be of Middle Eastern descent in her 30s. Anyone with information, or who may have taken videos or photos should contact the Crimes Against Children unit at 770-801-3487 or by e-mailing CobbSVU@cobbcounty.org.
Danzel Mitchell, 26, is being held at the Cobb jail without bond, and is charged with aggravated assault, attempted kidnapping, cruelty to children in the first degree and false imprisonment.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
