Accused stalker accepts probation
An Appling man was sentenced Friday to two years' probation after pleading guilty to obstruction of police and disorderly conduct, stemming from an incident involving 16-year-old singer/actress Miley Cyrus on Tybee Island this past summer.
Mark Owen McLeod, 53, was sentenced to 24 months of probation with mental health treatment and was banished from Chatham County.
As part of the sentence, Chatham County State Court Chief Judge Gregory Fowler also order McLeod to report Nov. 5 to American Works in Augusta for an assessment for mental health treatment.
The judge also ordered McLeod banned from using computers during probation and rejected the defendant's request that his computer be returned after the hard drives are removed.
McLeod has remained in the Chatham County jail since his arrest in August.
Charges against McLeod stemmed from conduct during the filming of Disney's "The Last Song'' on Tybee Island in June and August.
District Attorney Larry Chisolm elected to prosecute the case on the misdemeanor charges in state court after the Chatham County grand jury rejected a felony charge of obstruction of police officer because of insufficient evidence. A charge of attempted stalking of Cyrus on Aug. 2 was not being prosecuted by the District Attorney's office, Fowler explained to the defendant.
Officials contended McLeod stalked Cyrus Aug. 2 "for the purpose of harassing and intimidating'' her. The charges involved in Friday's plea stem from a June 22 incident in which McLeod resisted police after he was arrested for disorderly conduct.
During the disorderly conduct, Assistant District Attorney Roxanne Formey told Fowler that McLeod told police "no one could tell him to stop talking to Miley," and told the officers he was engaged to marry Cyrus.
Law enforcement officials in Columbia County arrested McLeod on a Tybee Island warrant after telling Cyrus security officials McLeod was a threat to the star.
However, one of his friends, Daryl Morris, of Appling, told The Augusta Chronicle in September that McLeod was misled into believing he had a friendship with the actress and would never harm anyone.
McLeod, he said, cultivated his "relationship" with the actress over a two-year period through his association with a $60-per-year fan site, www.mileyworld.com.
Alligator suspect seeks jury trial
One of two men charged with killing an alligator in Richmond County and leaving its carcass in a pond behind Brown Feed & Seed in Evans will have his case heard in Superior Court rather than Columbia County Probate Court.
Luther Godowns, 65, of Columbia County, was charged in Columbia County with two misdemeanors: possession of illegally taken wildlife and "dumping of egregious litter."
He appeared in Probate Court on Wednesday, posted an $1,800 bond and asked that his case be moved to Superior Court, where he will request a jury trial.
On Aug. 23, workers at Brown Feed & Seed found the butchered remains of a large alligator in a pond behind the store off Washington Road, where a 9-foot alligator has lived for several years.
Wildlife authorities later determined the resident reptile was still alive and a similarly large animal killed illegally in Richmond County had been dumped after its head, claws and tail were removed.
A second suspect, Bobby Charles Jones, 51, of Columbia County, was charged with two misdemeanors -- hunting out of season and possession of illegally taken wildlife.
Jones' case was processed in Richmond County State Court last month, and he was ordered to pay $1,350 in fines and serve 160 hours of community service at an animal shelter.
Godowns' case will be sent to Superior Court. No trial date has yet been set.
The following accounts were taken from reports from the Grovetown Department of Public Safety:
Peeping Tom seen at woman's window
A Grovetown woman told police Monday that while drying off from a shower she saw a man looking in her window.
Just before midnight, her towel hit the bedroom window curtain, opening it. She saw a man standing outside her window looking in.
Officers found a bucket under her bedroom window and a chair under her children's bedroom window.
The woman said she recognized the man, and a witness saw the same man leaving the window.
Man says intruders rob him at home
A Grovetown man said that three people entered his home last weekend and robbed him at gunpoint.
About 9:30 p.m. on Oct. 24, a woman he knows as "Candy" knocked on his back door. When he let her in, two men with handguns followed her in and demanded money. One robber hit him in the back of the head with a gun.
The robbers took $600, the victim's wallet and keys before leaving. He heard them drive away.
The following accounts were taken from reports from the Columbia County Sheriff's Office. Reports are available at www.columbiacountyso.org:
Mounted deer stolen in Appling
Someone stole mounted deer parts from an Appling deer-processing business Wednesday.
The owner of Frog's Deer Processing said that between 8:30 p.m. Tuesday and 8 a.m. Wednesday someone entered a cooler in the rear of his business and stole a $400 mounted whitetail deer and a $50 set of whitetail deer antlers.
The deer was for a customer who had not yet paid for it.
Burglar steals propane tanks
Burglars broke into an Evans propane business Wednesday and stole nearly $480 worth of propane tanks.
The clerk at Amerigas Propane LP, 4403 Evans to Locks Road, said that between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. someone cut the lock off the tank storage cage at the business and stole the 20-pound propane tanks.
The value of the tanks was reported as $479.92.
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