Charges include aggravated assault, fraud and molestation
Jones County’s Grand Jury met last week and considered a total of 23 bills of indictment with all 23 of the bills determined to be true bills. That means those charges will go forward to Superior Court.
Grand jury members met April 8 to hear evidence presented by the Jones County Sheriff’s Office, Gray Police Department and the District Attorney’s office.
The cases brought before the jury included 10 involving drugs and four with crimes against children.
Barry Dewayne Hasty was among those indicted. His charges were for damage to an electrical power station.
Hasty, 47, of Twiggs County, was arrested Feb. 19. He was indicted April 8 on charges of criminal damage to property in first degree, possession of tools for commission of crime and theft by taking misdemeanor.
The report of his arrest states law enforcement was dispatched to Highway 49 following a report of someone stealing cooper wire from the EMC substation.
Jones County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Richard Langston said when he arrived at the location, there was no vehicle, and he started checking the locks on the gates. The deputy said he did not see any signs of tampering, so his next step was checking the fence line.
The deputy said, as he reached the backside of the fence line, he noticed a black tool bag about three feet from the edge of the fence. As he got closer to it, Langston noticed a large hole cut in the fence. The excess of the fence was pushed inward.
The deputy said he climbed through the fence to check for additional damage and to see if the offender was still there. He said while checking the wires connected to the transformers, he noticed more tools on the ground.
Langston said he walked around the edge of the transformer and saw a man lying on the ground, attempting to hide from him. He said the man had several tools, including a pair of bolt cutters within reach.
The deputy took the offender into custody and placed him in the backseat of his patrol vehicle.
No more suspects were found, but the deputy did find more tools. He also found freshly cut wires and areas around the transformers where ground wires were missing. A pile of copper grounding wire was also found outside the fence, near his patrol vehicle.
Langston said the power company was notified, and a lineman came to the scene. He said the lineman told him the ungrounded transformers made the area very volatile, and no one should go inside the fence.
Kirby Vincent Moore, 55, was arrested Feb. 25. He was indicted for two counts of aggravated child molestation, aggravated sodomy, and one count of child molestation.
Moore requested bond March 6 in Jones County Superior Court, represented by defense attorney Travis Griffin. Assistant District Attorney Cara Fiore represented the state in the hearing that was heard by Chief Superior Court Judge Alison Burleson.
Moore’s arrest was the result of a complaint received by the Jones County Sheriff’s Office Feb. 17 for incidents that reportedly began in January of 2016.
Griffin told the court Moore has no criminal history but was indicted in Crawford County in 2020 for another child molestation case. He said the case was dismissed due to case flaws and lack of credibility.
Fiore stated that the molestation was disclosed to a family member, and the victim was taken to the Crescent House and interviewed. The complainant was not a family member but had a close, long-term relationship with the family.
The prosecutor said the victim told a friend that the molestation had been going on for years. She said since the complainant spoke up, other possible victims have been revealed. She said one of the suspected victims died by suicide.
Fiore told the court that the state believed the defendant is a risk to try to influence witnesses, a risk to the other victims and to the community.
After listening to the arguments of the attorneys, the judge denied bond.
Ashley Berghof was indicted for cruelty to children second degree and possession marijuana less than ounce. She is charged in the same case as Steven Allen Jones,
who is charged with two counts of aggravated child molestation, giving a false name to law enforcement officer and obstruction of an officer.
The pair was arrested in January.
Bhargav G. Patel, 22, of South Carolina, was arrested March 20. He was indicted for two counts of criminal attempt to commit felony and one count of identity fraud.
He is currently being held without bail.
A report of the arrest by Jones County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Jared Marcum states he was dispatched to the victims’ residence in the southern part of the county the afternoon of March 11.
The caller reporting the scam attempt was the son of the victims who arrived at his parents’ home just in time to stop the handover of thousands of dollars from their bank account.
Marcum said the husband had been convinced that the person he was talking to was investigating fraud at his financial institution. The victim withdrew all the money from his account in $100 bills and was prepared to hand the money to the party sent to pick it up.
The pick-up person fled the scene when the son arrived and started taking pictures of the car and license plate. The son pursued the vehicle and attempted to stop it.
The deputy arrived at the home of the victims while the husband was on the phone with the scammer. Marcum said he took the phone and was told by the caller that he was with Microsoft and then claimed to be a state investigator. When the deputy refused to put the victim back on the phone, the scammer hung up.
When the son returned to the home, he told Marcum and JCSO Sgt. Travis Walker about the pursuit, and the officers retraced the route. Marcum said they saw evidence of the vehicle losing control multiple times and looked for a crash site but were unsuccessful.
Jones County Sheriff Butch Reece said JCSO investigators were able to identify the driver of the vehicle, Bhargav Patel, a resident of South Carolina. With the help of the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office, Patel was taken into custody. He was extradited to Jones County.
Patel was Jones County Superior Court April 3 for a bond motion represented by Atlanta attorney Nathan Pugh. His bond was denied by Superior Court Judge Stephen Bradley.
Edward Jerome Broadus Jr. and Chamikka Latrica Goodman were indicted for the charge of influencing a witness. The charge is connected to a theft case. Broadus was arrested Feb. 18 for theft from a previous employer. The influencing charge is the result of an alleged attempt by Broadus and Goodman to pay the victim to drop the theft charges. Gray Police Office Dylan Joiner was the responding officer for both the theft and influencing witness cases.
Latrina Latrece Primas was indicted for five counts of aggravated assault. She was arrested on the charges Jan. 21. A report of the arrest states Primas allegedly pointed a gun, aiming through the windshield, at the victims who were inside a vehicle in the parking lot of a convenience store, while making verbal threats she was going to shoot.
The victims inside the car included three children ages 12, 8 and 1. There were several witnesses to the incident, and it was recorded on the store’s video. GPD Lt. Mitch Lovick was the responding officer.
Stanley Phillip Wesson was indicted for possession of methamphetamine, felony fleeing or attempting to elude police officers and DUI less safe drugs. Wesson was arrested Feb. 23 after he ignored the attempts of officers to make a traffic stop due to his dangerous and erratic driving.
It took three attempts by officers to perform a PIT maneuver to get the car stopped and the report of the incident stated he had to be pulled from the truck he was driving.
A bag of methamphetamine and envelope containing marijuana was located inside the vehicle.
GPD Sgt. Paul Hathaway and Officer Daniel Pointer were the responding officers.
A list of the April 8 indictments in their entirety can be found in Open Records on page B5 in this week’s edition.
