An East Cobb man charged with raping a woman at her home in the Johnson Ferry Road area in February has been indicted.
Kendal Guerin Chaves, 34, of Lerose Court, was indicted by a Cobb grand jury last week on one count of aggravated sodomy, one count of aggravated assault, one count of first degree burglary and one count of battery.
He was charged by Cobb Police on Feb. 10, two days after a woman living on Colony Drive, off Little Willeo Road, said a man knocked on a window in the morning and attacked her after she answered the door.
According to the indictment, Chaves gained unlawful entry into the home, committed anal rape against the victim, choked her and caused bruises to her neck, face and arms.
Chaves was booked into the Cobb County Adult Detention Center without bond, according to jail records.
He also was charged with DUI, a misdemeanor, at the same time. Chaves pleaded guilty in late January to a cocaine possession charge and had been sentenced to three years’ probation, according to court records.
The court records further show that his probation was revoked due to the DUI charge, and on March 26, Chaves was resentenced to serve two years.
According to Cobb jail records, Chaves was released to the custody of the Georgia Department of Corrections on April 11.
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Jerry Quan is a former commander of Cobb Police Precinct 4. (East Cobb News photo by Wendy (Parker)
One of the major services cited by East Cobb Cityhood advocates is public safety, and in particular, more police officers on patrol.
At their town hall meeting Monday, Committee for Cityhood in East Cobb representatives were quick to note the ongoing public safety concerns expressed by Cobb police, fire and other law enforcement personnel, as well as citizens.
Before those issues were raised to county commissioners, a feasibility study commissioned by the Cityhood group assumed an East Cobb police force of 142 officers.
That’s nearly the double the currently allocated 77 positions for Cobb Police Precinct 4, which covers more of the proposed City of East Cobb, all the way to Canton Road.
But Precinct 4 has only 53 officers, and is among the most understaffed of the five police precincts in the county.
Among the complaints in Cobb are lower salary scales for police compared to other cities and counties in metro Atlanta, as well as benefit packages and retention rags that also are lagging.
A questioner asked the cityhood group at the town hall about how a City of East Cobb might achieve “full funding” for police officers.
“I want to see a police department that’s paid what they’re worth,” said Jerry Quan, a retired Cobb Police major who was a commander at Precinct 4, who drew strong applause with that remark.
Now a resource officer at Lassiter High School with the Cobb County School District police department, Quan is a member of the Cityhood group, advising on public safety matters.
“I’ll do what I can to help them but I can’t guarantee anything.”
The cityhood group also was asked that City of East Cobb paying police officers might have a “ripple effect” on Cobb’s situation.
Cityhood leader Karen Hallacy admitted that it would, but it would be no different than how other local police departments have been able to entice officers from Cobb.
“We’re part of that ripple,” she said.
A City of East Cobb police force likely would be headquartered at the current Precinct 4 location at the East Cobb Government Service Center on Lower Roswell Road.
Public safety would be the largest single expense for a City of East Cobb, according to a $45 million budget assumption included in the feasibility study.
Most of that $19.67 million line item would be for police. After the meeting Quan told East Cobb News that he thought that budgeting for 142 officers “is a little bit high,” and said “we don’t want to have the bare minimum” in terms of services and resources as well as manpower.
The biggest objective, he said, would be to have “more officers out on the streets.”
Quan said he sympathizes with his former Cobb Police colleagues who are pressing for better compensation and resources. Saying that he “loves Cobb County,” Quan insists that in East Cobb, “with the right kind of resources, we can provide better services.
“We like where we live, and we want to keep it that way.”
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As the Cobb Board of Commissioners approved the hiring of a new public safety director Tuesday night, many of those working for county public safety agencies and members of the public told them that a proposed five-percent pay increase isn’t sufficient.
That’s how much more Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce wants to pay them in his draft fiscal year 2020 budget proposal. The boost includes a three-percent hike for all county employees, plus another two percent for public safety personnel.
For several weeks those working for police, fire, sheriff’s office and 911/emergency agencies have told commissioners morale is deteriorating because of poor salary and benefits packages and retention rates, compared to other jurisdictions in metro Atlanta.
Among those speaking out was Susan Hampton (in photo), an East Cobb citizen who helps organize an annual public safety appreciation dinner for police officers in Precinct 4 and another for Cobb firefighters.
“I am begging you to fix it now,” she said as the last of a long line of public speakers demanding immediate action, and not later in the summer, during the budget process.
“Fix it now” was a message some brought to the meeting as they held up signs and wildly applauded what Hampton and others were saying.
Commissioners named Cobb Police Chief Mike Register the new public safety director, and he pledged to those in the audience to “make public safety a better place to work.”
The vote to approve Register was 4-1, with Commissioner Bob Ott of East Cobb opposed, saying he’d prefer the $300,000 or so budgeted for public safety director (half salary, the rest support staff) go to addressing staffing shortages.
Ott said he wasn’t opposed to Register, whom many praised during the evening, getting the job.
Hampton, who’s been especially vocal about what she has called a public safety “crisis” in Cobb, said starting police officers in Cobb are paid around $40,000 a year, compared to $48,800 in Atlanta and Brookhaven.
After five years of service, that Cobb officer would get $44,000. A five-percent raise would result in a salary level of $46,000, she said. In Gwinnett, officers at the five-year level are paid around $53,000, while in Atlanta and Brookhaven it’s around $59,000.
“A five-percent increase will not make Cobb County competitive,” she said.
To fund the extra two percent raise, Boyce has proposed not funding an allotted 40 new police officer positions and another 40 new sheriff’s office positions.
In other words, Hampton concluded, “public safety has to fund their own increase.”
She suggested that the county use revenues from projected growth in the county tax digest this year to help pay for additional public safety spending.
Others urged the commissioners to address retirement and retention issues they say are getting worse.
Steven Gaynor of the Cobb Fraternal Order of Police said the savings from not funding a public safety director, as Ott prefers, “wouldn’t have helped us much.”
Gaynor requested a 10-percent raise and prefers a step and grade retirement system that Ott has suggested.
The most pressing issue, Gaynor said, is filling job openings that are continuing, as the county is conducting a hiring spree for public safety.
“We had eight [police academy] graduates last Thursday,” he said, “but we lost 13. We cannot keep this up. . . .
“Set in place a plan that will take us into the future.”
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Register, who has been police chief since May 2017, was recommended from a group of four individuals to succeed Sam Heaton, a former Cobb fire chief who retired last month.
Register, a retired military veteran who served with Cobb PD for 19 years and later was the the Clayton County Police Chief, is a doctoral candidate in public policy.
Among his initiatives since returning to Cobb include beefing up community-based policing, with a community officer in each of the five police precincts, and holding occasional meetings with faith and other community leaders in the county.
The change at the top of the department comes as commissioners have been pressed by public safety personnel and citizens to improve salary, benefits, retention and other initiatives to address staffing shortages some have said has reached crisis proportions.
Understaffed police and fire services also are among of the primary factors behind the ongoing East Cobb cityhood movement, and are two of the proposed three services included in a bill that will be taken up next year in the Georgia legislature.
At recent commissioners’ meetings, those pushing for more staffing have noted that all five Cobb police precincts have shortages on their patrol “beats.” East Cobb’s Precinct 4 has only eight of 10 beats fully staffed, the least-staffed of all, according to Cobb Fraternal Order of Police head Steven Gaynor.
Cobb Police Chief Mike Register speaking to the East Cobb Civic Association in Aug. 2017 (ECN file).
Cobb currently has 82 police officer openings, and is on pace to lose 100 officers this year. That’s how many applications come in every week, but only a quarter or so of them make the first cut.
Other shortages are in fire/EMS and sheriff’s deputies positions.
The public safety director oversees those functions, along with the county’s 911 dispatch service, emergency management agency and animal services.
In a draft fiscal year 2020 budget proposalreleased last week, Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce has included recruitment bonuses for public safety, but has decided against budgeting for 40 new police officer and 40 new sheriff’s deputy positions.
Commissioner Bob Ott of East Cobb told those gathered at a town hall meeting last month that he’s opposed to filling the public safety director’s post, and prefers each of those agency heads to report to the county manager, as has been done in the past.
Ott was the only commissioner voting against Register for police chief, saying he objected to the selection process and not the candidate.
Proponents of more public safety staffing and better salaries are planning to speak out again at Tuesday’s meeting. It starts at 7 p.m. in the second floor boardroom of the Cobb office building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.
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Thanks to reader who lives in Chadds Walk for asking us to check out what she said was a “bad accident” shortly after midnight Monday on Oak Lane, and that prompted fire/rescue as well as police presence.
A Cobb Police spokesman told us that the accident involved a single vehicle that struck a tree at 12:03 a.m. on Oak Lane near Wyeth Walk (that’s east of Johnson Ferry Road).
Officer Neil Penirelli said a white 2009 Mazda RX8 driven by Evan Jones, 27, of Marietta, was negotiating a curve on Oak Lane when the car left the road and hit the tree.
Penirelli said Jones was taken to Wellstar Kennestone Hospital and is listed in critical but stable condition, and that speed and alcohol are possible contributing factors in the accident.
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Cobb DOT and the Cobb County School District said Tuesday they’ve drawn up a number of safety improvements that will be made on Holt Road in front of Wheeler High School following serious injuries to two students who were hit by a car.
The accident took place around 7 p.m. on a Saturday, March 9, as they were moving gym equipment in the crosswalk.
One student, Malik Spellman, is facing a long recovery after suffering multiple injuries. The other student has not been identified. The 73-year-old driver of the car who hit them has been issued traffic citations but was not charged with anything else.
According to Cobb County spokesman Ross Cavitt, here’s what’s going to happen on Holt Road, in front of Wheeler and the parking lot of the former East Cobb Middle School:
Installing a “rectangular rapid flashing beacon” device at the crosswalk, which would include a raised median providing a pedestrian refuge in the middle of the road. This is similar to a pedestrian crossing currently in place on Lower Roswell Road just outside of the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center.
Relocating the crosswalk away from a nearby side street and combine it with another crosswalk north of the current location.
Close an exit from a parking lot across from the high school near the crosswalk.
Install updated signage warning of the pedestrian crossing.
Upgrade street lighting in the vicinity of the relocated crosswalk.
Cavitt said the county government and school district will share in the costs, which haven’t been determined.
He said Cobb DOT was planning to conduct a pedestrian survey on Holt Road before the accident, with cameras and other devices recently installed.
Cobb DOT had planned a pedestrian survey on Holt Road before the incident happened. They installed cameras and other devices and are still studying the results.
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In response to concerns about staffing, salary and retention issues for Cobb public safety personnel, Commissioner Bob Ott said last week he has a few plans to save money. One of them calls for not having a public safety director.
At his town hall meeting at the Catholic Church of St. Ann, Ott drew applause from constituents when he said that “I won’t be voting for the position of a new public safety director.”
Sam Heaton retired as the Cobb Public Safety Director last week, and a replacement hasn’t yet been nominated to succeed him.
But Ott said he thinks the county should go back to having each of the public safety department heads—police, fire/EMS, 911, emergency management and animal services—report to the Cobb County Manager, as has been done in the past.
Heaton is a former Cobb fire chief who was named public safety director in 2014, and was making $156,000 at the end of a 33-year career with the county.
He replaced Jack Forsythe, who resigned in protest, citing a lack of resources and staffing shortages that have come up again as commissioners prepare for the fiscal year 2020 budget.
At their last meeting in March, commissioners were pressed by current and past public safety employees and citizens to address what they called a “crisis.”
Among the pleas were to be more proactive in filling 82 open police officer positions, out of a total county sworn-officer force of 700.
Ott said the county receives around 100 applications a week for police officers, but a typical batch that size is whittled down to around 25 who meet Cobb’s qualifications.
The cost of filling all 82 positions is estimated at around $10 million. All five Cobb Police precincts have open slots in what are called patrol “beats,” including Precinct 4 in East Cobb. Cobb Fraternal Order of Police head Steven Gaynor said Precinct 4 is the least-staffed of all, with eight officers for 10 beats.
(Public safety staffing also has been cited by those pressing for East Cobb cityhood, with police and fire proposed as municipal services.)
Ott’s priority would be to fill the open beat positions. “How many of these 82 slots are needed to have all the beats [in the county] being covered?” he said.
Police officers have said having take-home cars is important for them. In the 2016 Cobb SPLOST, Ott said there was a $9 million line item sum for new police cars, and that last year he offered another $9 million, but his request was taken out of that wish list.
The biggest difference Ott said he has had with how public safety spending has been used is over compensation, benefits, raises and retention incentives.
(He’s expressed his concerns over these matters before, especially after last year’s budget adoption.)
Although he has voted for salary increases for police officers and sheriff’s deputies as part of recommendations from a consultant’s “pay and class” study in 2017, Ott said the practice is not sustainable.
He regrets the “pay and class” vote and prefers implementing a “step and grade” process for public safety employee raises that’s similar to what’s done at the Cobb County School District.
He said he and fellow East Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell have been discussing such an option.
Ott also would like to move all county government employees to a defined-contribution retirement system “because defined benefits don’t work.”
Ott and Birrell voted against the fiscal year 2019 Cobb budget that included a property tax hike, and Ott insisted last week the resources to address public safety shortages existed before that.
“There’s money all around, which is why I didn’t vote for the budget and millage rate increase,” he said.
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I-75 Southbound near Terrell Mill Road after the lanes were reopened around 11:30 a.m. Friday (Ga. DOT camera)
UPDATED, 5:45 P.M.:
Marietta Police say the man they took into custody on the interstate is suspected of an armed robbery at the customer service desk of the Walmart store at 201 Cobb Parkway South, near the Big Chicken.
Police said the suspect fled the scene before they arrived, but they were able to get a description from a video surveillance camera at the store and learned he left in a gray Honda Civic.
A Marietta officer discovered a vehicle fitting the description and initiated a traffic stop on I-75, and the driver ultimately pulled over on the shoulder near Windy Hill Road, police said.
Police said that because they thought the suspect was armed, they didn’t approach the vehicle, and began negotiations with him by phone.
That’s why they decided to shut down the southbound lanes, and a standoff took place lasting more than an hour.
More from MPD:
After negotiating attempts failed, members from the Marietta SWAT Team approached the vehicle and the driver was removed and taken into custody without injury/incident.
The male, who is not being identified at this time, is currently at a local hospital receiving a full medical evaluation.
ORIGINAL REPORT:
If you’ve been stuck in a miles-long logjam on Interstate 75 southbound in Cobb County this morning, you’re free to move about.
But it may take the rest of the afternoon to clear up traffic that was tied up for more than an hour due to police activity.
All southbound lanes were shut down at I-285 for more than an hour due to what Marietta Police initially described as “a traffic stop with an armed non compliant driver.”
The motorist is believed to be a suspect in an armed robbery at a Walmart store on Cobb County in Marietta.
The driver pulled over on the shoulder on I-75 and a standoff with police ensued, and the suspect was taken into custody. Some southbound traffic was diverted onto Windy Hill Road.
Possible detours around the congestion include the managed lanes and Atlanta Road, but Cobb Parkway also figures to feel the brunt of the traffic clear-up.
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As the organizer of annual dinners to honor Cobb public safety personnel, Susan Hampton is now taking an active role to appreciate them far beyond giving them one special evening out of the year.
Susan Hampton speaking at a town hall meeting at the Sewell Mill Library on March 4. (ECN file)
Over the last month or so, the East Cobb resident has shown up at all but one of Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce’s 14 budget town hall meetings to speak about what she and others have said is a “crisis” in staffing, pay, benefits and retention for county police, firefighters, EMS personnel and sheriff’s deputies.
She worked up a flyer to hand out to citizens at the town hall meetings, fraught with warnings about how Cobb is struggling to fill many openings, and is losing experienced personnel to other jurisdictions.
On Tuesday, she and more than a dozen citizens and Cobb public safety employees demanded that the Cobb Board of Commissioners act quickly not just to improve pay and benefits, but to get more aggressive in filling those vacancies, especially in a competitive market for experienced public safety workers in metro Atlanta.
“Each of you says public safety is number one and you are committed to solving the problem,” she told commissioners at their packed meeting in downtown Marietta.
“Then you say you’re only one vote . . . The problem is 10 years old, and it’s getting worse.”
She noted that already in 2019, 25 police officers have resigned or will be leaving soon, and “at this rate, we will lose over 100 officers this year. . . . There is a public safety crisis in Cobb County.”
Hampton, a vice president at the Fidelity Bank branch on Johnson Ferry Road, is co-chair of the East Cobb Business Association’s annual dinner for officers in East Cobb’s Precinct 4, as well as for the entire Cobb Fire and Emergency Services Department.
Hampton’s flyer spelling out public safety staffing, salary and retention concerns. Click here for larger view.
Most of her community activism is with ECBA, as well as the East Cobb Lions Club, and other organizations. She’s also a former East Cobb Citizen of the Year for her long-time civic leadership.
“I’m just a concerned citizen that loves Cobb County,” she said.
On Tuesday, she urged commissioners to use some of the $10 million she estimated in pay and benefits that’s available from 211 current openings “immediately” for pay increases, retirement and retention bonuses, and other initiatives to address staffing issues.
She also advocated the creation of a special taxing district for police that’s similar to how Cobb Fire is funded.
“If the city of Atlanta” can address some its public safety staffing concerns, Hampton said, to a rousing chorus of laughter in the room from many of those in uniform, “then why can’t Cobb County?”
Af the end of the meeting, Commissioner Bob Ott of District 2 in East Cobb acknowledged Hampton, telling the public safety employees on hand that “she has been out there advocating for you.”
In recent weeks, those concerned about public safety staffing have spoken out to the commissioners, but Tuesday’s turnout was the strongest yet, as a formal budget proposal for fiscal year 2020 is pending.
Some expressed frustration that the while the budget reflected public cries to enhance library hours and expand greenspace, public safety issues have been overshadowed.
Steven Gaynor, head of the Cobb chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police, said every area of the police department is understaffed, but Precinct 4 in East Cobb “is the least-staffed,” with eight officers for 10 beats.
He said Cobb Police can’t wait for the upcoming fiscal year 2020 budget process to address the shortages, and called for “emergency action now.”
Matt Babcock, who lives in District 3 in Northeast Cobb, had been a Cobb firefighter for 10 years until he resigned last month, because he needs “a better paycheck and retirement.” He said “chronic short staffing,” including 80 current open positions, “is a danger to the county.”
He said many engines are staffed with three and not the recommended four firefighters. Many of his former colleagues, Babcock said, “are not sticking around because they don’t see there’s a future in Cobb.”
Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce’s fiscal year 2019 budget calls for the hiring of additional police officers, but more are leaving than can be replaced. (ECN file)
East Cobb attorney Lance LoRusso, who represents many law enforcement officers, told commissioners that in spite of numerous calls in recent years to address public safety staffing issues, “your responses have been weak and demonstrate a lack of leadership.”
Ott and other commissioners addressed the dozen or so speakers and said they’re working to address the staffing concerns but don’t have a specific solution for the moment.
“We hear you, we hear your concerns,” said commissioner JoAnn Birrell of District 3 in Northeast Cobb. “We have made improvements over the years, but it’s not enough. We’re working on options to come forward in the near future.”
Boyce took exception to LoRusso’s comments, and said voting to improve parks and library services doesn’t mean commissioners don’t care about public safety.
“To say that this board doesn’t care is offensive,” Boyce said. “We do care. . . You are a voice. You are here tonight because deep down you know we are going to fix the problem.”
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A Wheeler High School student who was critically injured when he was hit by a car in the crosswalk in front of the school on March 9 is still in the hospital, and will be in rehabilitation after that.
His family is asking for the public’s help to help pay for medical and other expenses as his parents take time off from work to care for him.
Malik Spellman, a varsity basketball player for the Wildcats, was one of two Wheeler students hit around 7 p.m. on March 9 as they were transporting weight room equipment across Holt Road.
The boys were struck by a black Mercedes driven by Nancy Valentine, 73, of Marietta, according to Cobb Police, who have not yet pressed any charges.
UPDATED, March 21, 3 P.M.:
Cobb Police spokesman Neil Penirelli said traffic citations have been issued to Valentine for failure to yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk and failure to use due regard to avoid pedestrians.
ORIGINAL REPORT CONTINUES:
According to an online fundraising note posted by Marquis Wright, Spellman’s stepfather, more than $7,500 of a requested $25,000 has been raised thus far. Spellman is still at Scottish Rite Children’s Hospital, Wright said, and he will need physical as well as psychological therapy.
Police said initially that the student later identified as Spellman was facing life-threatening injuries and that the other boy, who has not been identified, was facing serious injuries. They were both taken to WellStar Kennestone Hospital from the accident scene, police said.
Wright said he was making the fundraising appeal after being “instructed by our lawyer just in case the person who hit my son’s insurance doesn’t cover his medical expenses.”
East Cobb Middle School officials said they’ve heard that “some of our families are interested in how they can help” Spellman’s family, and on a social media posting included the GoFundMe link.
“He is progressing well, but still expected to be in a rehab facility for the next 3-4 weeks,” the school message said, referring to Spellman.
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Reader Julia has these photos of Paper Mill Road being blocked off after 6 p.m. Tuesday due to brush fires near the Sibley Forest subdivision.
That’s located between Sope Creek Elementary School and the Cochran Shoals Unit of the Chattahoochee National Recreation Area.
James Kapish, public information officer for Cobb Fire, said Engine 3 was dispatched to the scene at 6:18 p.m.
He said the fire was controlled quickly and there were no injuries or evacuations and that roads were reopened to traffic at 7:17 p.m.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
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A Cobb Superior Court Judge sentenced a Lyft driver to 35 years in prison Tuesday for raping a female passenger near her apartment in Cobb County in late 2016.
The Cobb District Attorney’s office said Jerome Antonio Booze, 40, of Decatur, was convicted by a Cobb Superior Court jury on Monday. Kim Isaza, a spokeswoman for the DA’s office, said the sentence was handed down by Judge Ann Harris.
Booze was charged in January 2917 after driving a female college student from a night of drinking at a bar in Atlanta to her Vinings apartment on Dec. 10, 2016. According to testimony at the trial, the woman’s friends called for a Lyft around 4 a.m. because she had become intoxicated and they didn’t want her driving home. They had been celebrating a friend’s 21st birthday.
According to prosecutors, the woman said she had flashbacks the next morning of having sex with someone, but said she had no memory of the Lyft ride or of getting home. She told her parents she had been raped and went to Grady Memorial Hospital for medical treatment before filing charges with Atlanta Police, who transferred the case to Cobb Police.
The attack occurred in the back seat of Booze’s car near her apartment building, according to prosecutors. Booze was indicted in February 2017.
Prosecutors said Booze initially told Cobb Police that he denied he had sex with the woman, then later said he did have sex with her but said she initiated it and that he didn’t know she was intoxicated.
During the trial, Booze testified that the woman held down his arm and climbed on him and reiterated that he didn’t know she was drunk.
That didn’t convince the jury, which convicted him on the sole charge of felony rape, Isaza said. Harris told Booze before sentencing that trial evidence showed the woman was incapable of giving consent.
“This predator exploited a position of trust and targeted a vulnerable, intoxicated female. This verdict demonstrates that those who prey on women who do not have the capacity to consent will be held accountable,” said Courtney Veal, Cobb assistant district attorney.
After his release from prison, Booze will serve the rest of his life on probation as a registered sex offender, Isaza said.
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Cobb Police said two teenage pedestrians were seriously injured Saturday night, one of them with life-threatening injuries, after being struck by a car in front of Wheeler High School on Holt Road.
Officer Neil Penirelli, a spokesman for Cobb Police, said they were hit at 7:01 p.m. Saturday in the crosswalk between Wheeler and the former East Cobb Middle School by a black 2007 Mercedes Benz SLK350 driven by Nancy Valentine, 73, of Marietta.
She was traveling northbound on Holt Road when the accident occurred, Penirelli said. He added that the teenagers, who were not identified, were taken to WellStar Kennestone Hospital.
He said the accident is still being investigated and that anyone with information is asked to contact Cobb Police at 770-499-3987.
ORIGINAL REPORT, 7:54 P.M SATURDAY:
Shortly after 7 p.m. Saturday a reader contacted us to say that several police cars were spotted heading up Holt Road northbound, from Eastvalley Elementary School and toward Wheeler High School, and that emergency sirens also could be heard.
We got over there around 7:30 p.m. and police had blocked off Holt at Monterey Drive and Beckwith Trail, which is just above the Wheeler campus.
Cobb Police said there is an accident investigation that’s underway.
If you head southbound on Holt from Robinson Road, you’ll be diverted onto Monterey or Beckwith.
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A man who was working on an electrical project at an East Cobb home on Wednesday has died after a double shooting there, Cobb Police said Thursday afternoon.
Lisa Watkins Godsey and Jessica Godsey Smith, the aunt and cousin, respectively, of Jake Allen Horne, 21, of Kennesaw, left messages with East Cobb News earlier Thursday saying that he had died.
Police didn’t initially confirm that information. They said that Horne, who was shot in the head, and his boss, Gordon Montcalm, 37, of Buchanan, Ga., who was shot multiple times, were taken to WellStar Kennestone Hospital after the shootings Wednesday afternoon at a residence in East Cobb.
They were listed in serious condition, police previously said.
Larry Epstein, 68, the homeowner of a residence at 1963 Wellington Lane, is being held without bond in the Cobb County Adult Detention Center, charged with two counts of aggravated assault and two counts of aggravated battery, police said.
In a statement issued around 3:30 p.m. Thursday Cobb Police said the department’s “Crimes Against Persons Unit will be working with the District Attorney’s Office to upgrade the offense appropriately.”
Horne and Montcalm were at Epstein’s home, located in the Kensington neighborhood off Johnson Ferry Road, and had completed work for the day, around 2:25 p.m., when there was an argument between them and the homeowner, according to police.
The argument escalated, and police said Horne and Montcalm were shot by the homeowner. Sgt. Wayne Delk of Cobb Police said they still don’t know what led to the dispute.
Cobb Police sent a heavy presence into the community, located between Sewell Mill Road and Oak Lane, including a SWAT team, mobile command unit and helicopters, after someone called 911 about an active shooter there.
A Wellington Lane resident told East Cobb News the street was blocked off and she and other neighbors were ordered to stay inside for a time.
Epstein was taken into custody around 3 p.m. Wednesday afternoon and was booked overnight, according to Cobb Sheriff’s records.
Godsey said Horne was declared brain-dead Wednesday and life support was turned off Thursday morning.
Lisa Godsey, who lives in California and formerly resided in Cherokee County, told East Cobb News that her nephew was an apprentice electrician who was working for Montcalm. He had turned 21 only in January, she said.
“This is a boy that would give you the shirt off of his back. He had a heart of gold,” Godsey said about Horne in a message to East Cobb News. “He thought of everyone else before himself.”
Horne lived for a while in California, Godsey said, and “was best friends with my sons,” and later returned home to Georgia to be near his sister Sadie, who is a few years younger.
“My cousin was one of the victims,” Jessica Godsey Smith said. “Hope the man rots in jail for what he did to him.” She also left Horne a message on her Facebook page Thursday morning:
“We made plans for tomorrow night. My heart hurts so unbelievably much right now. You had such a great heart. You always had a smile on your face, to know you was to love you. And you were truly like a brother to me.”
Friends and family members said the Horne siblings lost their mother and father in recent years, and now Sadie Horne is planning her brother’s funeral.
Lisa Godsey said a Go Fund Me page has been set up for Horne’s funeral expenses.
“This is a very unfair thing,” Godsey said. “We demand Justice for Jake. Please show the world what has been taken. I pray that he is high in the heavens with his new wings.”
Cobb Police said their investigation into the shootings is continuing and that anyone with information should call 770-499-3945.
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“He should be lowering the millage rate,” East Cobb resident Patricia Benedict said after Commission Chairman Mike Boyce’s town hall meeting Monday night. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)
Patricia Benedict brought her property tax bill and a good bit of pent-up frustration to a Cobb budget town hall meeting Monday night at the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center.
As she listened to Commission Chairman Mike Boyce lay out his fiscal year 2020 budget priorities that do not call for a millage increase, she grew even more animated by what she was hearing.
While supportive of additional funding for many of the services Boyce was touting—public safety in particular—she finally stood up, took a microphone and told him that her tax bill has gone up 41 percent in the last three years.
“It’s not sustainable,” said Benedict, who bought her home with her husband in the Barnes Mill Road area in 2014. “You should be having a millage decrease. I want services, but I can’t afford this. When property values go up, the millage should go down.”
Benedict said after the meeting that she estimates around 75 percent of her tax bill is for schools. She has written elected officials, including new Cobb school board member Charisse Davis, who represents part of East Cobb.
She said the school part of her tax bill has gone up by even more, 53 percent in the last three years, although the Cobb schools millage rate hasn’t gone up since 2007.
“I am concerned the school board is not controlling costs and is going to tax me out of my home,” Benedict wrote to Davis. “Please explain to me why the school board is not decreasing the millage rate in a period of rising home prices?
(Davis wrote in response that she doesn’t favor reducing the millage rate, saying 92 percent of Cobb educational costs are personnel-related and that the district is having to fund more and more expenses that are typically covered by the state. “We still have not been able to replace the number of teachers we had before the 2008 recession. We also have the lowest administrative costs among the larger Atlanta-metro school districts,” Davis said.
Boyce explained to Benedict during the town hall that homes are taxed at 40 percent of their assessed value, with another 10 percent reduction for a permanent homestead exemption for the county’s general fund. The only school tax exemption in Cobb is for homeowners 62 and older.
“Your concern is a legitimate one,” he said to Benedict, who rattled off some things she’s doing without to save money. “Who here has less expenses than last year?”
2020 priorities
A few dozen people turned out for Monday’s town hall, which also covered upcoming transportation and transit initiatives (we’ll detail those in a future post).
Last July, Boyce got a 1.7 mills increase for $454 million in county general fund spending by a narrow 3-2 vote in what he called a “restoration” budget, after claiming Cobb government was facing a $30 million deficit.
The additional revenue is being used to hire police officers and extend public library hours, among other features.
For FY 2020, Boyce wants to hire more police officers, further extend Sunday library hours and give all county employees a three percent cost-of-living-raise, something they haven’t had in five years, keeping an 8.46 general fund millage rate.
Costs are also going up for pension and health care obligations for county employees, and he’s proposing to reduce revenues transferred from the Cobb water system by $2.8 million.
He hasn’t submitted a formal budget proposal yet, but is conducting town hall meetings around the county this month (see bottom of this post for the schedule).
Even with a record Cobb tax digest of 36.7 billion in 2018, and a bigger one projected for this year, Boyce said the cost of services continues to rise as the county grows.
He said around 10,000 new residents typically move into Cobb every year, and while they contribute additional tax revenues, “they do not offset the greater costs of services.”
Benedict responded: “Then keep those libraries closed on Sunday.”
“We fall behind at the more experienced level,” Boyce said in reference to the departure of police officers in Cobb.
Boyce replied that many citizens, especially in East Cobb, were vocal about not only keeping libraries open, but having them open longer. The Sewell Mill branch has longer Saturday hours, and the Mountain View Regional Library is open on Sunday afternoons.
“Last year people came out because they wanted to keep their amenities,” he said.
Public safety concerns
This year, Boyce and some citizens at the town hall meeting expressed grave concerns about public safety staffing.
Susan Hampton, a community civic leader who organizes the East Cobb Business Association’s annual public safety appreciation dinners, said “the crisis is already here.”
Before the meeting a flyer was handed out with her name and the Cobb Fraternal Order of Police chapter listed as contacts. It detailed retention issues with seasoned officers, less-than-ideal salaries and benefits, older patrol cars, police officers not having sufficient backup on calls and a shortage of sheriff’s deputies at the Cobb jail. According to the flyer:
“We have the same number of uniform officers on duty today as we did 20 years ago. We have 167,000 more citizens in Cobb today than we did in 1999. Calls are increasing 4% to 5% every year, yet we are expecting the same number of officers from 20 years ago to keep our county safe!”
Similar sentiments have been expressed at recent commission meetings by Cobb FOP. Last year, Cobb hired 48 police officers, but lost 72 others. Already this year, nine officers have departed or are in the process of leaving.
“We are on fire,” Hampton said. “But it’s not on your mind because you don’t know about it.”
“We’re not where we need to be with public safety,” Boyce said, adding that hiring of officers will be gradual, given a six-month training period at the start for each new hire.
He acknowledged that the loss of mid-rank, mid-career officers and other law enforcement personnel is serious.
“We know about it, but it’s going to take some time to fix it.”
The remainder of Boyce’s town hall schedule this month is as follows, with sessions at 3 and 7 p.m. each day:
Thursday, March 7 – Cobb Senior Services, Marietta
Monday, March 11 – Freeman Poole Senior Center, Smyrna
Wednesday, March 13 – South Cobb Community Center
Thursday, March 14 – North Cobb Senior Center
Tuesday, March 19 – West Cobb Senior Center
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Cobb Police are saying this morning that the two people shot suffered serious injuries and were taken to WellStar Kennestone Hospital.
They are Gordon Montcalm, 37, of Buchanan, Ga., and Jake Horne, 21, of Kennesaw. Officer Neil Penirelli, a spokesman for Cobb Police, said Montcalm suffered multiple gunshot wounds and Horne was shot in the head.
Both men were at the Wellington Lane home doing electrical contracting work, and the shootings took place as they were trying to leave the residence at the end of the work day, around 2:25 p.m. Wednesday, police said.
UPDATED, THURSDAY, 8:50 A.M.:
We’re still awaiting further information from Cobb Police about Wednesday’s double shooting in an East Cobb neighborhood, but Cobb Sheriff’s Office records show that a Wellington Lane resident was booked overnight.
He’s Larry Epstein, age 68, of 1963 Wellington Lane. He’s facing four felony counts, two for aggravated assault, and two for aggravated battery, and is being held without bond at the Cobb County Adult Detention Center.
UPDATED, 4:30 P.M.:
A man has been taken into custody and the two people shot have been taken to WellStar Kennestone Hospital. No names or conditions of any of the individuals have been released.
Cobb Police said the incident resulted from a dispute with home contractors and that another person was questioned as a witness.
Sgt. Wayne Delk of Cobb Police said that the Crimes Against Persons Unit is continuing the investigation as law enforcement personnel are leaving the scene.
ORIGINAL STORY, 3:25 P.M.:
Cobb Police are at the scene of a double shooting at a residence on Wellington Lane in East Cobb.
Sgt. Wayne Delk, a Cobb Police spokesman, told East Cobb News around 3:15 p.m. Wednesday that two people have been shot, but there’s no word yet on their condition.
He said that’s all the information he has for the moment, including a specific address.
A reader told East Cobb News there’s heavy police presence on that street, and that she saw SWAT personnel headed to the scene.
Wellington Lane is a residential street in the Kensington subdivision, south of Oak Lane and north of Sewell Mill Road.
A Kensington resident told East Cobb News that “they have us pretty blocked in but not giving any info. They are in SWAT gear with guns drawn.”
She said police have been on the scene since right before 3 p.m.
The police presence included a mobile command truck.
Cobb DOT is saying there are major traffic delays along Johnson Ferry northbound near Sewell Mill Road due to the police activity.
We’ll be updating this story.
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From the Cobb Fire & Emergency Services Department comes word that staffers at the Cobb Fire Station 15 (3892 Oak Lane) were recently recognized by Gov. Brian Kemp for coming to the scene of a cardiac arrest situation at the Northeast Cobb YMCA, along with the MetroAtlanta Ambulance Service.
Lt. Stephen French, Engineer Darrell Freeman and Firefighter Mele Miller were joined by two bystanders in rendering assistance on the scene.
Here’s what the department is sharing with the public about the recent incident:
William Vincent, 63, was running on a treadmill at the YMCA in East Cobb when he suffered a sudden cardiac arrest. YMCA employee Kevin Lee heard Mr. Vincent collapse and he immediately started CPR.
Another bystander, Dixie McCombs, called 911 and brought the Automatic External Defibrillator (AED) to Kevin who then shocked the patient.
Engine-15’s crew arrived on the scene along with EMT Logan Harris with MetroAtlanta Ambulance Service.
Cobb Fire is so proud of our crew, so thankful for our friends at MetroAtlanta Ambulance Service & in awe of Kevin & Dixie’s courage that day in saving a truly wonderful man’s life.
Thank you to Georgia House Rep. Matt Dollar & Michael Charles of Better Outcomes for bringing attention to this great story.
Please use this as a reminder to recognize & help a fellow person in need.
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Some Cobb school buses are equipped with cameras to photograph license plates of stop-arm violators.
When your kids return to school next week, a revision to a Georgia law regarding bus stop-arm requirements for motorists will have been put into place.
As Cobb students were letting out for their winter break this week, Gov. Brian Kemp on Friday signed SB 25, which clarifies language for when drivers must stop for buses on divided roadways.
The law passed by the General Assembly last year contained vague language about when motorists traveling in the opposite direction from a bus with the stop-arm extended had to stop.
The revision mandates that those vehicles must now stop on divided roads or highways unless there is a physical barrier between the two directions of traffic.
Along a road that is divided by a center turn lane or double yellow lane stripes, vehicles heading in the other direction must stop. The law passed in 2018 made that unclear.
However, if a road is divided by a grass or unpaved median or a raised barrier, vehicles traveling in the opposite direction do not have to stop.
All traffic on two-lane roads must stop for stopped buses, as has been the case since before last year’s legislation.
School Transportation News said two students in Georgia have been hit since the law was passed last year, one of them fatally, by vehicles that ran bus stop-arm signs.
SB 25 passed unanimously last week, 171-0 by the House and 55-0 by the Senate. It was the first bill signed into law by Kemp since he became governor in January, and it went into effect immediately.
State public safety agencies, including the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, released the following graphic to illustrate changes in the law.
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Submitted information about next month’s Cobb Police job fair:
Come join our team of men and women who have stepped up to experience one of the most challenging, yet rewarding, opportunities out there! The Cobb County Police Department will be hosting a Job Fair March 29-31 at the Cobb County Public Safety Training Center located at 2109 Valor Drive, Marietta. The goal of this job fair is to expedite the hiring process by completing:
Physical Agility Test:
25 push-ups within one minute 30 sit-ups within one minute 300-meter sprint within one minute, six seconds (1:06) 1.5 mile run within 15 minutes, 54 seconds (15:54) Click here for more details.
Interview with an Internal Affairs Investigator **
Polygraph Exam **
Psychological Exam **
** Conditional upon passing the PAT ** Come as you are between the hours of 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Please wear appropriate clothing for PAT; change of clothes for additional testing is optional. A Photo ID is required. Snacks and water will be provided. To expedite your process, please apply online at: https://cobbcounty.peopleadmin.com/postings/search click on: Police Officer I. Any questions, please contact Internal Affairs at 770-528-3812.
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An Atlanta child psychologist who worked out of an office in East Cobb has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to molestation and exploitation charges, including posting a photo online of a girl he victimized in Cobb County in 2017.
The Cobb District Attorney’s Office on Friday said that Jonathan Gersh, 38, pleaded guilty to six counts of child molestation and four counts of sexual exploitation of children.
Cobb Superior Court Judge Stephen Schuster ordered Gersh to serve 20 years in prison and 20 more on probation, according to the Cobb DA’s office.
Prosecutors said the acts took place at the victim’s home at an unincorporated Marietta address. She was eight years old at the time.
Gersh was associated with Intown Psychological Associates, which had several offices in metro Atlanta, including one at 1744 Roswell Road in East Cobb.
A woman psychologist who had been dating Gersh told the court she had been “manipulated” into a relationship with him so he could have access to her daughter, and she called him a “selfish, perverted, manipulative sociopath,” according to the DA’s office.
Gersh was arrested Feb. 14, 2018, after Cobb authorities were alerted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which had gotten a tip from Australian law enforcement of an IP address which contained graphic images of child pornography, according to prosecutors.
The DA’s office said Cobb Police got a search warrant on Gersh’s mobile phone, and found more photos of what was termed “child erotica,” including images of children in bathing suits in public places.
“He is an opportunist. He is a child molester. And, he’s an exploiter of children in the worst way,” Cobb Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney Chuck Boring said.
“These pictures are not baseball cards to be traded. This is pure and simple sex trafficking,” Schuster said in court.
Gersh, who has been in the Cobb County Adult Detention Center since his arrest, will be given sex offender status following his release from prison, the Cobb DA’s office said.
“Aside from this conduct, he’s led an exemplary life,” Gersh’s attorney, Richard Grossman, told the court.
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