The Cobb District Attorney’s Office said Tuesday it’s been able to close three cold case rape files dating from 1999 using advanced genetic genealogy testing.
But the man identified by Cobb investigators as the suspect died in December, shortly after they took DNA samples from him in Arkansas, where he lived.
Lorinzo Novoa Williams, who was 48, went missing after Cobb investigators, with help from Arkansas law enforcement, executed a search warrant to collect his DNA samples, according to Cobb DA’s office public information officer Kim Isaza.
She said that after they returned home, Cobb investigators were told by their Arkansas counterparts that Williams was later found dead.
Isaza said the rapes took place within a three-mile radius in southeast Cobb between June and October 1999. In each case, the attacks took place during pre-dawn hours, with each woman waking up to find an unknown man standing over her.
She said each victim reported her attack to police, which took a rape kit, and that the DNA profile in all three cases was identical, meaning they were assaulted by the same man.
But the profile didn’t match an offender in the CODIS combined DNA index system at the time, according to Isaza.
Cobb Senior Assistant DA Theresa Schiefer began looking at the cases again in 2018 at the request of a cold case unit, and secured a $10,000 grant from the federal Bureau of Justice Assistance to retest the rape kits with advanced technology, Isaza said.
Early last year, the profile was submitted to a private lab that constructed a genetic tree of the suspect, she said.
From there, the Cobb DA’s office sexual assault investigating unit and its cold case unit discovered the suspect lived in metro Atlanta at the time of the 1999 rapes. He had been arrested on peeping tom, indecent exposure and burglary charges in Cobb and Gwinnett, also during that time.
Isaza said that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Forensic Biology Section determined that the DNA collected from Williams matched the profile of the 1999 rape kits.
Isaza said Schiefer spoke to each of the rape victims after the match was confirmed.
“I feel very fortunate that we could provide some answers to these women after all this time. We want anyone who has experienced sexual assault to know that we will continue to work their cases in hopes that their turn will come, too,” Schiefer said.
According to his obituary, Williams worked for a construction company in Hampton, Ark., and was married with four children. He and his wife became Jehovah’s Witnesses in Macon in 2003.
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Jake Horne was taken off life support after being shot outside an East Cobb home in March; the homeowner, Larry Epstein, was charged with his murder.
A quiet East Cobb neighborhood became the focus of an intense law enforcement presence one afternoon in early March 2019 after two home contractors were shot in what some residents thought was an active shooter situation.
Cobb Police ordered residents to stay inside as they closed off Wellington Lane, off Johnson Ferry Road, and sent in SWAT officers and a mobile command unit.
A nearby resident told East Cobb News she’d never seen so much police concentrated in the area, a situation drawing heavy metro Atlanta media coverage as well.
A resident of Kensington, the neighborhood in question, told East Cobb News that “they have us pretty blocked in but not giving any info. They are in SWAT gear with guns drawn.”
An hour or so after police came to the scene, the standoff ended peacefully when Larry Epstein, a resident of the Wellington Lane home where the shootings occurred, surrendered.
Two electrical contractors doing work at his home were rushed to WellStar Kennestone Hospital.
One of them, Jake Horne, 21, of Kennesaw, was taken off life support and pronounced dead the following morning after being shot in the head. Gordon Montcalm, 37, of Buchanan, Ga., was listed in serious condition and faced a long recovery.
Epstein, 69, was charged with murder and he remains in the Cobb County Adult Detention Center after being denied bond.
During his probable cause hearing, police said Epstein had accused the workers of killing pet ducks at the home, although there was no evidence of those acts.
The families of the victims were left to scramble to raise funds for medical and funeral expenses, and to comprehend what had happened.
“This is a boy that would give you the shirt off of his back. He had a heart of gold,” said Lisa Godsey, Horne’s aunt, who lives in California. “He thought of everyone else before himself.”
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Cobb Police said they’ve arrested Zaire Dhanoolal, 18, of Marietta, on two counts of aggravated assault, and Joweer Ponce, 19, also of Marietta, who’s charged with reckless conduct and carrying a concealed weapon without a permit.
Cobb Police spokeswoman Officer Sydney Melton said both have been taken to the Cobb Adult Detention Center.
She said the person who was shot, Ethan Green, 18, is being treated at WellStar Kennestone Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Melton said Anthony Ezell, 21, was a victim of aggravated assault because the suspect pointed a gun at him before firing at Green.
Police have not indicated a possible motive for the shooting but are continuing to investigate.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Cobb County Police Department Crimes Against Persons Unit at 770-499-3945
ORIGINAL POST:
Cobb Police said one person was shot at the food court at Cumberland Mall Saturday afternoon, prompting a temporary closing of the shopping center while they’re searching for a suspect.
Police said the victim was taken to a hospital but did not identify the person or disclose the severity of the injuries.
Police they were called at 1:18 p.m. and that out of an abundance of caution initial indications were that it was an active shooter situation, police said.
But police said when they arrived on the scene they determined there was no random shooting, which is what usually triggers an active shooter alert, and said that a dispute led to shots being fired.
The suspect fled the scene, and police did not have a description of the suspect or offer other details.
Law enforcement presence around the mall is heavy and motorists in the area are being asked to use alternate roads.
The Cobb Fire Department said a man and a dog were found dead in a Northeast Cobb home after a fire broke out there on Tuesday morning.
The 46-year-old man has not been identified and the cause of the fire has not been announced. Capt. Joseph Bryant of the Cobb Fire Department said fire and EMS units were called to the home at 2235 Snug Harbor, off Sandy Plains Road, at 8:08 a.m. Tuesday.
That’s in the St. Charles Square subdivision, off Sandy Plains and near Scufflegrit Road.
The man and the dog were found in the master bedroom on the main level of the two-story, home, Bryant said.
He said the cause remains under investigation and foul play is not suspected.
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An East Cobb man who owns vaping and tobacco shops at the East Marietta Shopping Center has been arrested and jailed without bond on drug charges after Marietta Police conducted a raid on his businesses Tuesday.
Marietta Police said Wednesday that Billy Scott Christian, 28, was charged with three felony counts related to the possession, sale and distribution of marijuana and another felony count of possession of a firearm during the commission or attempted commission of a crime.
According to Cobb Sheriff’s Office records, Christian lives at a Yancy Road address, in a neighborhood near Sedalia Park Elementary School.
He is the owner of the Royal Cigar and Tobacco Store at 1514 Roswell Road, and the Endangered Botanicals Shop at 1510 Roswell Road, both in the East Marietta Shopping Center.
Police said during the raid that lab equipment to manufacture gummy edibles and capsules of what may be Kratom (an opiate) were confiscated, along with more than nine pounds of marijuana, multiple scales, baggies and three firearms.
More than 100 pounds of the gummy edibles and possible Kratom capsules were collected at the scene for further testing, according to police. Kratom is a substance with similar effects as heroin.
Marietta Police said in a release that following safety alerts issued by the Centers for Disease Control about deaths relating to vaping and THC oil (the key ingredient in marijuana), they began investigating the sale of hemp and CBD oil in the city.
Samples from Christian’s store were identified by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation as containing THC, not hemp, and Marietta Police said they secured search warrants as a result.
The police release said additional charges may be considered regarding the capsules “once the GBI confirms the actual chemicals” they may contain.
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Cobb District Attorney Joyette M. Holmes announces that the annual Cobb County Candlelight Vigil and Homicide Memorial will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 19 in the Jury Assembly Room of the Cobb Superior Courthouse.
“This Evening of Remembrance pays homage to those who have been lost to violent crime. These victims were – and still are – held dear in someone’s heart,” District Attorney Holmes said. “As we see far too often, the actual victim of a homicide is not the only person the crime hurts. Those left behind suffer, too. We wish to recognize that and let them know that they are also not forgotten.”
Tangela Brooks, who lost her son, Jonathan, 22, to homicide in 2011, will be the guest speaker.
Law enforcement partners from around the county will be joining the District Attorney’s Office staff at the vigil. Kennesaw Police Chief Bill Westenberger, Cobb Police Deputy Chief Stuart Vanhoozer, and Acworth Police Chief Wayne Dennard will read the names of deceased victims during the ceremony.
“This is Cobb County’s second annual Evening of Remembrance. This vigil is important to those families who have suffered the ultimate loss of life due to murder or homicide in Cobb County in that it gives these families a special evening to remember their loved ones,” said Kim McCoy, director of the Victim Witness Unit. “Hosting an event such as this gives us, the service providers, an opportunity to honor those we serve and to remind us of why we do what we do on a daily basis. We are honored to share this event with our community.”
Gathering and refreshments will begin at 6 p.m. The ceremony will begin at 7 p.m.
Attendees may enter the Courthouse at the 70 Haynes Street entrance. Complimentary parking will be available at the Lawrence Street deck.
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A man who was convicted of choking the mother of his baby at her East Cobb home last year has been given a 22-year prison sentence, with 20 to serve.
Derek James Burns, 29, of Carrollton, was sentenced Monday by Cobb Superior Court Judge Adele Grubbs, after a jury convicted him last week of aggravated assault (strangulation), false imprisonment, simple battery and simple assault.
According to the Cobb District Attorney’s Office, Burns, who has been in jail since the April 2018 incident, will get credit for time served.
Prosecutors said at the trial that Burns and the victim were arguing at her home on Bradford Lane, off Barnes Mill Road, on April 19, 2018. According to testimony, Burns put the woman in a chokehold until she lost conscious and control of her bladder.
Prosectors said the woman realized after she regained consciousness that she had been dragged across the floor and placed in a corner, and said that Burns threatened to shoot her if she looked up or raised her head until he was gone, and would “make it look like a suicide.”
Also testifying at the trial was a former girlfriend of Burns, who said he had choked her, also rendering her unconscious, when they were dating.
Grubbs, who said Burns was “vicious and harmful,” also ordered him to serve the final two years of his term on probation.
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A City of East Cobb fire department “will not have the resources to operate” at a top certified level of protection, according to a group opposing cityhood. (ECN file)
A group opposed to East Cobb cityhood is criticizing an independent financial review that concluded that a proposed city would be fiscally viable.
The five-member Independent Financial Group, consisting of East Cobb residents who are finance and legal experts, volunteered to examine a Georgia State University feasibility study and issued its report in September.
The East Cobb Alliance, which formed over the summer to oppose cityhood, said in a posting on its Facebook page over the weekend that “in the beginning, there were 5 people on the IFG, but the 5th guy resigned when he couldn’t stomach the baloney the other 4 were proposing…and, ‘baloney’ is putting it nicely.”
(Shailesh Bettadapur, a member of the IFG group, resigned two days before the report was released, according to Bill Green, another member of the review group.)
The ECA post further stated that “several members of ECA who have choked their way through reading this document consider it nothing but a bunch of mumbo-jumbo malarkey.”
The East Cobb Alliance took issue with the report above all over fire services. The Committee for Cityhood in East Cobb had state legislation introduced in March that would create a city of East Cobb with police, fire and community development services.
The ECA noted in its posting that in the IFG report, members of the review group and the cityhood group “are concerned the [GSU feasibility] Study may not have included all necessary fire protection expenditures.”
The ECA post continued:
“This is a group of 4 people, NONE of whom have ANY experience in the fire protection services world. No one on the GSU research team had ANY experience in fire protection services. No one on the Pro-Cityhood Committee has ANY clue as to what it takes to operate an effective fire department.
“Our County Fire Department, and our personal lives and property, should NOT be subjected to the whims of fools who have NO IDEA of what it takes to assemble, hire, train, OR operate a world-class Fire Department like we have right now.
“Tell your friends and neighbors about this IDIOCY being pushed upon us.”
The GSU feasibility study estimated an annual fire budget of $5.9 million. According to the IFG report (read it here), a city finance director in a nearby municipality said a City of East Cobb may have relatively lower costs for fire because it “has a low proportion of multi-unit residential housing and fewer tall buildings.”
The IFG, in its report, added $4 million for fire expenses estimates “as a placeholder” pending further budgeting information becoming available.
The East Cobb cityhood bill includes a proposed municipality of around 96,000 people, and five fire stations currently part of the Cobb County Fire and Emergency Services Department.
The ECA in recent days has examined other aspects of the cityhood proposal, including the possible purchase and use of the East Cobb Government Services Center on Lower Roswell Road, and the proposed cost of buying those five fire stations for the new city from the county.
The ECA also claims that a new City of East Cobb fire department “will not have the resources” to provide the top certified level of protection, also known as ISO-1. Cobb is one of around 240 fire departments nationwide to have that status, which is given by the Insurance Services Office, a non-profit that provides insurance information, including for fire and building codes.
“Should we kill a great Fire Department to build a new police department? Seems like kind of a weird trade-off,” the ECA asks.
Another topic covers police and jail services that have been proposed by the cityhood group. The GSU feasibility study suggested a 140-officer East Cobb police force, nearly double the number of officers on patrol in Cobb Police Precinct 4, which covers an area well beyond the proposed city lines. Currently Precinct 4 has a staffing of around 50 response officers, a shortage of less than 20 for what it’s been allocated.
“That just seems very bizarre to us when the land area will be half of their current coverage,” concluded the ECA. “Why should we vote to form a new city to correct a deficiency of 16 people . . . when the coverage territory of a new city will be 50% of the original precinct territory? For all we know, 71 people may be the ideal force for a PCEC.”
The East Cobb Alliance and the East Cobb cityhood group have been invited to a Nov. 12 forum hosted by the East Cobb Business Association.
The cityhood group’s public events, which follow town halls in the spring, also tentatively will include more meetings after the first of the year, when the Georgia legislature would take up the East Cobb cityhood bill.
That bill would have to pass the entire General Assembly for a cityhood referendum to take place in 2020.
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A South Georgia man indicted for killing an East Cobb couple in 2015 has had the dismissal of his murder indictment upheld by the Georgia Supreme Court.
By a 7-2 vote, the state’s high court agreed with a lower-court ruling that a Telfair County grand jury that indicted Ronnie Adrian Towns was unlawfully constituted because “some of the grand jurors were not selected randomly.”
Towns was charged with the Jan. 2015 murders of Elrey “Bud” Runion, 69, and his wife June, 66, of East Cobb, who had traveled to McRae, Ga., to buy a 1966 Ford Mustang Towns had posted for sale on Craigslist.
After their daughters reported them missing, the bodies of the Runions were found in their car in a pond in Telfair County a few days later. Authorities in that southeast Georgia county said the Runions had both been shot in the head.
Prosecutors alleged that Towns tried to lure the victims with the prospect of buying the car, but intended to rob them.
Towns, who was 28 at the time of the Runions’ deaths, turned himself in, and he was indicted for murder by a grand jury.
According to the Supreme Court ruling, 50 prospective grand jurors were summoned to appear on March 16, 2015, but fewer than 16 showed up on time. The presiding judge ordered some of those who hadn’t appeared to be located by the Telfair sheriff, and asked the court clerk to identify four possible candidates for the grand jury from a list of prospective petit jurors who could show up quickly.
Two of those four reported, and others summoned for the grand jury later also reported, and a grand jury was empaneled on March 16.
That grand jury, with the two originally on the petit juror list, returned a murder indictment against Towns the same day.
Towns filed a motion to dismiss the indictment, alleging the two on the petit juror list were not chosen at random. Towns’ attorney said the clerk telephoned those four individuals, whom she knew personally. In a 2017 ruling, the trial court concurred and dismissed the murder indictment.
Prosecutors appealed that ruling to the Supreme Court. The high court majority concluded that while the petit jurors were selected at random from a master jury list, in selecting the two individuals who eventually served on the grand jury, the clerk:
” . . . relied on her personal knowledge of the prospective petit jurors, her own assessment of the extent to which she had the information necessary to contact them, and her estimate of the likelihood that they would be available to report immediately. Those selections were not ‘random’ in any sense of the word.”
The Oconee Circuit District Attorney, which prosecutes cases in Telfair and six other South Georgia counties, is seeking the death penalty against Towns.
The Runions, who lived in the Wendwood subdivision off Holly Springs Road, were married for 38 years. According to their obituary, in 1991 the Runions founded Forever Greatful Ministries, which helps families in need in the Marietta area. He was retired from AT & T and she was a preschool teacher at Johnson Ferry Christian Academy.
They were longtime members of Mt. Paran Church of God North on Allgood Road.
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Byrne was indicted by a Cobb Superior Court grand jury on Oct. 3 on eight felony counts, including malice murder, felony murder, conspiracy to commit a felony and violation of rackeetering laws.
Another count alleges that in March of this year, Byrne asked an individual identified as “J.G.” to have Wheeler killed in exchange for money.
The indictment states that Byrne conspired with Wheeler to commit the murder of Moore, who was found stabbed to death multiple times with a knife in his home at 2808 Gracewood Drive on Jan. 25, 2014.
Byrne had been the owner of Best Dang Bakery Around in Woodstock, and Moore had been an investor, according to testimony presented at Wheeler’s trial.
Byrne lived at Moore’s Gracewood Drive home for seven years, according to the indictment, and each man had a 50 percent ownership stake in the bakery, of around $35,000 each.
By Jan. 2014, Moore wanted out of the business partnership, concerned about Byrne’s spending habits, according to the indictment, which stated that Byrne had moved of the East Cobb home by then.
The indictment alleges that Byrne and Wheeler, a former bakery employee who had served 10 years in prison in Ohio for armed robbery and other offenses, conspired to steal from Moore. The plot, according to the indictment, was to have Wheeler come to Moore’s home and commit assault, burglary and theft.
After Moore was found dead, the indictment states, the plot involved “tampering with evidence and false statements.”
Johnathan Wheeler
The indictment alleges that Byrne let Wheeler come to his home and shower after the killing, and that Byrne offered Wheeler a clean change of clothes.
According to the indictment, Wheeler confessed to the murder to his cousin, Cynthia Wheeler. She testified at Wheeler’s trial last year that they went back to Moore’s home to stage a crime scene and steal items.
The indictment said Byrne later stole Moore’s partnership interest, helped Cynthia and Johnathan Wheeler pay bills and paid for a trip Byrne and Wheeler took to the Florida Keys and for vehicles for Wheeler.
Byrne was interviewed by police two days after the murder and denied any role, according to the indictment. Wheeler was charged with homicide on Aug. 16, 2014.
In 2016, Cynthia Wheeler was sentenced for concealing a death, burglary and tampering with evidence, and agreed to testify against her cousin.
According to the Georgia Department of Corrections, Johnathan Wheeler is incarcerated at the Smith State Prison in south Georgia.
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A man living on Terrell Mill Road and who was charged with the death of a motorist in a fatal crash on I-20 in July has been indicted on three counts of vehicular homicide.
The Cobb District Attorney’s Office said Mark Steven Ridling, 29, of 1550 Terrell Mill Road, was indicted by a Cobb Superior Court grand jury on Oct. 3.
According to the indictment, Ridling was driving a Hyundai Azera in Interstate 20 near Factory Shoals Road in South Cobb after 2 a.m. on July 7 when his vehicle, which was traveling well in excess of the posted 70 mph speed limits, changed lanes. The Hyundai then struck a Toyota Corolla driven by Brian Betts, 47, of Atlanta, who later died at Grady Memorial Hospital as a result of the crash.
The indictment also said Ridling was driving while under the influence, and that he was driving “in a reckless manner on reckless disregard of the safety of persons and property.” Betts’ car overturned and Ridling’s Hyundai struck a barrier on the interstate.
Ridling suffered minor injuries and also was taken to Grady. He was arrested the same day and remains in the Cobb County Adult Detention Center without bond, according to Cobb Sheriff’s Office records.
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After a couple months’ delay, three East Cobb parks will be among 13 in the county that will be getting electronic license plate readers.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners voted 5-0 Tuesday to spend $182,000 for the devices, which are designed to help cut down on crime and improve public safety at the parks.
East Cobb Park, Fullers Park and Terrell Mill Park are on the list for getting the readers, which are being purchased from a private vendor and will monitored by the Cobb Police Department.
The measure was tabled in August at the behest of East Cobb commissioner Bob Ott, who said he had privacy concerns with the proposal.
The revised request includes a provision that only police will receive the data coming from the devices, and that they will employ their existing policies about restricting use of the data.
No other county employees will have access to that information.
South Cobb commissioner Lisa Cupid thanked Ott “for letting us digest” the need to address privacy concerns.
“This was a sensitive issue,” said Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce, who thanked the police and parks and recreation staff for working out a solution.
Cobb will purchase a total of 26 devices from Flock Group, Inc., which has sold cameras to the county for use by other departments. The funding for the park devices is in the 2016 Cobb SPLOST.
The solar-powered readers at the parks will collect data that includes time of arrival and departure as well as license plate and vehicle characteristics.
Two devices will be installed at each of the 13 parks, which Cobb Parks and Recreation Director Jimmy Gisi said were chosen “based on experience and data obtained from the police department records of the number and type of citizen requested dispatch calls.”
The other parks include Noonday Park and Skip Wells Park in Northeast Cobb; Lost Mountain Park, Oregon Park and Fair Oaks Park in West and North Cobb; and Wallace Park, Hurt Road Park, Tramore Park and Wild Horse Creek Park in South Cobb.
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A disbarred attorney who pleaded guilty earlier this year to defrauding elderly and other clients in Cobb County and who was a fugitive wanted for his mother’s murder was captured over the weekend in Tennessee.
Richard Merritt, who was sentenced in January to 30 years, with 15 to serve, on 34 counts of theft and elder abuse, also is facing murder charges in DeKalb County.
Merritt’s mother was found stabbed and beaten to death on Feb. 2, the day after Merritt was to have turned himself in to begin serving his Cobb prison sentences, according to the U.S. Marshal’s Office in Nashville.
That’s where Merritt was spotted and arrested, while shopping at a thrift store, according to published reports. Photographs and footage of his apprehension showed he had grown his hair and beard long.
On Monday he was booked into the Davidson County Jail in Nashville, charged with a felony count of being a fugitive from justice. His bond is $250,000.
The manhunt for Merritt began after police found his mother’s body at her Stone Mountain home. Shirley Merritt’s car was missing and his was parked at the home, according to DeKalb Police.
Police also said at the time that in addition to his failure to surrender himself, Merritt, 44, removed an ankle monitor as part of his sentencing.
Merritt, whose law practice was in Smyrna, was indicted in 2018 on 34 counts of theft by taking, forgery and elder exploitation. According to the indictment, starting in 2015, he settled clients’ cases for such things as accidents and civil disputes without telling them by forging their signatures, then pocketing the settlement checks.
Those ranged between $1,500 and $75,000, according to the indictment. Some of those clients were elderly, prompting the charges of elder exploitation.
He pleaded guilty to all 34 counts, according to Cobb Superior Court Clerk’s records, and was sentenced to serve most of them 10-15 years concurrently. At the sentencing Merritt was ordered to serve 15 years in prison, with the rest on probation if he turned himself in at the Cobb jail on Feb. 1.
Merritt also was ordered to pay than $454,000 in restitution.
On Tuesday, Cobb District Attorney Joyette Holmes said “that it is a relief to know he is back in custody and I am confident that justice will ultimately prevail.”
She also said that “at some point he will be returned to Cobb for a hearing to revoke his probation.”
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An East Cobb man received a 20-year sentence after being convicted last week of sexually abusing a girl over several years.
The Cobb District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday that Gary Charles Hufstetler Sr., now 70, was found guilty by a Cobb Superior Court jury and was sentenced by Judge Reuben Green, with eight years to serve.
According to testimony introduced at the trial, Hufstetler began abusing the girl—who was not related but regarded him as what prosecutors described as a “grandfather figure”—when she was six years old, and it continued until she was 11.
According to prosecutors, Hufstetler knew the girl through his long-time live-in girlfriend, and the abuse progressed over time, beginning with such activities as watching Popeye cartoons together. The victim didn’t tell anyone until “a triggering event” prompted her to tell a therapist and police, according to a statement from the Cobb DA’s office.
Spokeswoman Kim Isaza said in the statement that Hufstetler had been investigated previously for allegations involving other children in his family, but no charges were filed.
Hufstetler’s home address is listed on Smithwood Drive, off Allgood Road near East Piedmont Road, according to Cobb court records, which also show that Hufstetler previously lived on Chestatee Drive in East Cobb and in Acworth.
According to Cobb assistant DA Meredith Florio, “this predator took care in grooming and selecting a child that he thought would never tell. However, this young woman, now 17 years old, showed incredible strength by facing her fears and this defendant in describing to the jury the abuse she suffered at such a young age.”
Hufstetler was indicted in Aug. 2017, according to Cobb Superior Court Clerk’s records. According to the Cobb Sheriff’s Office, he was taken into custody at the Cobb County Adult Detention Center on Friday, the day he was convicted.
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Thanks to Aaron Salkill, a firefighter with the Cobb Fire and Emergency Services Department, for passing along the following information and educational video you can watch below that’s part of a nationwide contest about closing your door before going to bed.
He and his Dalmatian Cinder are taking part in the “Close Before You Doze” video contest, which will award the winner a $25,000 grant for fire safety education programs.
The video contest is in conjunction with UL Firefighter Safety Research, and the videos are designed “to help educate people about the critical impact that closing your bedroom door can have in stopping the spread of a fire and ultimately saving lives.”
The winnings, according to Cobb Fire, would be contributed to the Cobb County Safety Village.
The eight videos with the most votes move on to the next round where a panel of UL representatives will rank the finalists. They will receive a donation in their name to a fire department of their choosing.
The grand prize donation is $25,000, the runner-up and second runner-up will receive $15,000 and $10,000, respectively, and five additional winners will be recognized with a $5,000 donation and honorable mention.
You can click on to the video link here between now and Sept. 15 to cast your vote for Aaron and Cinder and possibly benefit the Cobb Safety Village.
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A note suggesting a bomb threat and that was found on the dashboard of a car parked in front of The Marietta Daily Journal office Wednesday has led to the arrest of an East Cobb man.
Gary S. Studenic, 70, was booked in the Cobb County Adult Detention Center Wednesday afternoon on a misdemeanor charge of reckless conduct, according to the Marietta Police Department.
According to the Cobb Sheriff’s Office, Studenic’s home address is on Bill Murdock Road, and he was arrested at 12:15 p.m.
Police said an unoccupied black Porsche was parked in front of 47 Waddell Street at 10:10 Wednesday morning with a sign on the dashboard that stated in part: “will explode on contact.”
That’s near the Marietta Square, and it’s the address of the MDJ, which evacuated the premises, as did those in other nearby buildings, according to police.
Police said they established a perimeter around the vehicle as they investigated, and asked the Cobb Police Department to dispatch its bomb squad to the scene.
At 10:40 a.m., the registered owner of the car, whom police said is Studenic, walked from a building on the Square to the Porsche, and when he arrived said the note was a joke among friends.
The note said at the top: “NOTICE OF EXPLOSIVE INSTALLATION” and further stated in the text that “it has been modified to explode on contact. A nominal fee of $10,000 will be collected at time explosive charges are removed,” according to the MDJ.
Police said Studenic told them he didn’t realize he had placed the note in public view and in front of a newspaper office.
Police said the man who wrote the note, Richard Calhoun of Marietta, arrived at 11:11 a.m. The Cobb bomb squad inspected the car and found no explosives.
Marietta Police said Studenic went to their headquarters and was interviewed, and was charged with reckless conduct, which carries a bond of $250. Calhoun was not charged.
Studenic is the president of the Pain Relief Clinic, a chiropractic practice on South Marietta Parkway.
The MDJ moved to the Waddell Street building last summer, after selling its 50-year-old facility on Fairground Street to the Cobb County School District.
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After threats of violence or lockdowns at three East Cobb high schools in the last two weeks, Cobb County School District officials are trying to reassure the public that they’re being as proactive as possible in responding to those threats.
All three of those incidents—at Sprayberry, Walton and Wheeler—ended peacefully, and suspects at all three schools, including two students, were taken into custody.
School officials communicated with parents with varying levels of detail.
The first two incidents—both last week, at Sprayberry and Walton—included a code yellow alert and a student arrest, respectively.
On Friday morning, a code red alert was issued at Wheeler, where a student was found with a weapon and was arrested.
“We’re being as proactive as any school district I know,” said John Floresta, chief strategy and accountability officer for Cobb schools. He spoke to East Cobb News Thursday, before Friday’s incident at Wheeler.
According to a school district statement Friday morning, “students made [the] Wheeler administration aware of a rumor of a current student who had made a threat to Wheeler’s campus.”
The school was placed on a Code Red lockdown—the highest stage of alert—while school district police and administrators investigated. A student found with a weapon—which was not specified—was taken into custody.
“Wheeler administration, staff, CCSD police, and District student-safety supports performed well,” the school district statement further stated.
In each of the previous incidents, Floresta said, “we’re batting 100 percent in the way each incident was handled,” from quick actions by school officials to apprehend those posing a threat, to relaying information to the school community.
At Sprayberry, a trespasser was stopped by school officials last Friday and was found to have a gun. He was arrested, and a code yellow alert was issued. That means the outside doors to school buildings were locked while classes and activities continued inside.
A 45-year-old man who lives nearby, Daniel Ryan Caudell, was charged with possession of a weapon and alcohol on a public school ground.
At Walton, alcohol also was a mitigating factor in another incident last week. Ty Holder, a 17-year-old student, was charged with battery for kicking an assistant principal and threatening to shoot up the school when he was found with a water bottle containing alcohol.
He was later released on his own recognizance.
At Wheeler, Rolando Figueroa Moore, 18, was arrested at the school around 9 a.m. Friday by Cobb schools police and then booked into the Cobb jail, according to the Cobb Sheriff’s Office. Jail records indicate Moore has charged weapons possession on school grounds and bus hijacking, both felonies, and a misdemeanor count of carrying a weapon without a valid license.
An East Cobb parent who helped form a Cobb schools safety group last year acknowledged that the district is taking more concerted steps to ensure safety and communicate better, but still thinks its approach is largely reactive.
Rene’ Brinks Dodd, who helped start the Cobb County Schools Safety Coalition before the last school year, said she thought the message from Sprayberry principal Sara Griffin was prompt and detailed.
It said in part that the incident “did not disrupt the school day, at no time were students threatened or in danger.”
At Walton, an initial message to parents referenced “a student-related incident . . . that some of our students may have witnessed” but said only that the “situation has been resolved and the student involved is in the care of medical professionals.”
Principal Catherine Mallanda sent out a longer, more detailed message later the same day, saying that some information couldn’t be revealed for medical and student privacy reasons.
But she did describe the safety features of the Walton classroom building that opened two years ago, and explained a school safety day that took place last week “in which we reviewed all safety procedures with students and had a Code Red Drill. Additionally, our school safety plan has been vetted with the Cobb County School District Police Department.”
Mallanda also told parents about the 65-member Cobb schools police force, which has a combined 1,690 years of service. “We have some of the very best police officers at Walton High School keeping your child safe every day,” she said.
The second Walton message also referenced safety measures the district has begun within the last year, including the Safe Schools Alert, an anonymous tip-reporting service, and AlertPoint, an emergency response notification system that triggers a warning message throughout a school within seconds and identifies where an incident has taken place.
Officer Phil Bradford of the Cobb County School District police, at a safety town hall last fall at Lassiter HS. (ECN file)
Those are featured in a Cobb schools safety resource effort called Cobb Shield, which also contains information about the district police force, emergency management procedures and code red drills (required each semester at each of the district’s 16 high schools).
The Walton incident wasn’t made public for a week, and then only because of news reports, while the Sprayberry and Wheeler cases were made public the day they occurred.
Last month, Dodd addressed the Cobb Board of Education with some of her longstanding concerns, saying the Cobb school district “is taking a reactive approach to student safety and support and there are several ticking bomb-type situations that could result in someone getting hurt, hurting others or another tragic situation.”
Others are taking a “more proactive approach, and this could be done in Cobb County as well.”
Dodd, whose daughter attended Mountain View Elementary School, has advocated for more mental health counseling, and pointed to a special committee appointed by the school superintendent in Cherokee County for “social emotional learning” as an example of an initiative she would like to see tried in Cobb.
“We want change for everyone in the district, not just those students who are going to get the district high test scores and ratings,” she told the school board.
In referencing direct safety initiatives, including Cobb Shield, Floresta said that “I can point you to 1, 15, 20 things that we’re doing. I’d be curious to hear of something that we can do that we’re not doing.”
He said that “we’ve been pretty aggressive in steering the community to what we’re doing.”
Mallanda closed her longer message to the Walton community by saying that:
“Helping students succeed is our first priority, but we can only accomplish this mission if our schools are safe, our students are confident, and our teachers are able to focus on teaching. I am confident we are doing everything possible to keep your student safe.”
After the Wheeler incident, Dodd said she was “pleased to see more transparency in [the Cobb school district] statement than what has been done historically,” she said. “Also, would be curious if the new AlertPoint and SafeSchools Alert system is the reason it seems there are more incidents.
“Meaning, now that the teachers and students have the proper tools, a lot more things are being caught in a more efficient time frame and before something [is] escalated.”
However, the Code Red drill that took place at Walton last Thursday unnerved student Emily Ross, who wrote in an essay for the AJC that “this is warping me. I never feel safe.
“The teachers are expected to be self-sacrificing and stop someone with a weapon that can kill nine people in less than 30 seconds. The administration is expected to appease parents with procedures that might—or might not—work.
“I’m 16. I don’t have a solution.”
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A student at Wheeler High School was arrested Friday morning and the school was briefly placed on a lockdown after the student was found with a weapon, according to the Cobb County School District.
A spokesperson for the CCSD classes and other activities have resumed after a Code Red alert was issued. The student wasn’t identified, nor was the weapon specified.
UPDATED, 5:45 p.m.: According to the Cobb Sheriff’s Office, Rolando Figueroa Moore, 18, of a Terrell Mill Road address, was booked into the Cobb County Adult Detention Center around noon Friday on felony charges of weapons possession on school ground and bus hijacking and a misdemeanor count of carrying a weapon without a valid license.
He is being held on a bond of $27,720, according to jail records, which said Moore was arrested by Cobb County School District police on the Wheeler campus at 9:05 a.m.
Here’s the statement from the district:
“This morning, students made Wheeler administration aware of a rumor of a current student who had made a threat to Wheeler’s campus. Wheeler’s campus was put on code red while Wheeler administration and Cobb County School District police investigated. During the investigation, a suspect was arrested and found to be in possession of a weapon. Wheeler administration, staff, CCSD police, and District student-safety supports performed well. All students are safe, and the school is operating on a normal schedule while CCSD police continue their investigation.”
The incident at Wheeler is the third at an East Cobb high school involving lockdowns or threats of violence in the last two weeks.
Last week a Walton High School student found to have had alcohol in a water bottle was arrested after kicking an assistant principal and threatening to come back and shoot up the school.
Also last week, a man trespassing on the Sprayberry High School campus was found to have had a gun and was arrested by school district police. A code yellow alert was issued, meaning that the outside doors to the school are locked but classes and other activities continue inside.
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A Walton High School student who is accused of attacking a school administrator and threatening to shoot up the school was arrested over the weekend, charged with making terroristic threats, battery and other offenses.
Ty William Holder, 17, of a Cove Island Drive address in East Cobb, was booked into the Cobb County Adult Detention Center on Saturday morning, according to the Cobb Sheriff’s Office.
The charges include felony counts of making terroristic threats and battery against school personnel and misdemeanor accounts of simple battery against a police officer, alcohol possession on public school grounds and underage alcohol possession, according to the jail records.
Holder was released to his own recognizance on a $11,200 bond late Monday afternoon, according to the Cobb Sheriff’s Office.
The jail records indicate Holder was arrested at Peachford Hospital, a Dunwoody facility that treats individuals with addictions and mental health issues.
The incident was first reported by WSB-TV, which said a Walton assistant principal confronted the student about alcohol in a water bottle during a class last week. The student was upset and kicked the principal, then threatened to return to the school and “kill everyone,” the report said.
East Cobb News asked the Cobb County School District for more details about the incident, and a spokesperson issued this response:
“Staff in all Cobb Schools are trained in prevention and intervention best practices and care about the welfare of every student in the District. Walton High School staff responded quickly and appropriately and did what they have been trained to do: prioritize every student’s safety while keeping the focus on teaching and learning.”
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Sprayberry High School was on lockdown for part of the school day Friday after a trespasser was found on campus with a gun.
A Cobb County School District spokeswoman said a man was walking on school grounds when he was confronted by the school staff, who then discovered he had a gun.
She said a Code Yellow alert was issued, which means that the outside doors to the school are locked but classes and other activities continue inside.
“The incident did not disrupt the school day, and at no time were students threatened or in danger,” said the spokeswoman, who said the district would be pursuing charges against the man.
According to the Cobb Sheriff’s Office, Daniel Ryan Caudell, age 44 or 45, was arrested at 1:30 p.m. at Sprayberry by the Cobb County School District police.
He was booked into the Cobb County Adult Detention Center on a felony charge of possession of a weapon at or near a school, and a misdemeanor charge of alcohol possession on public school grounds, according to the Cobb Sheriff’s Office.
Jail records list Caudell’s home address as Aleta Drive, located near Sprayberry, and that he is being held on a $6,270 bond.
“The safety of our students and staff is our highest priority and we will continue to remain vigilant in ensuring our campus security,” the Cobb school district spokeswoman said.
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!
