Planting for the future

The Arbor Day celebration at Milton City Park and Preserve Feb. 17 drew close to two dozen people who participated in educational demonstrations and helped plant two of the remaining 13 winged elms for the event. The trees will provide a rounded canopy shape, Milton Arborist Sandra Dewitt said, and they grow to at least 45 feet tall. Dewitt also said the deciduous trees are resistant to Dutch Elm disease. Dewitt said that when planting a tree, the hole should be twice as wide as the root ball. She also advised to make certain the tree has room to grow and will receive adequate sun.

Mayor

Recaps Year Of

Milton milestones

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Nonprofit helps children of aging parents

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Alpharetta exercise studio offers hands-on fitness

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Fulton Schools offer tips on bullying prevention

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Store employee identifies suspect in previous theft

MILTON, Ga. — A Windward Parkway Walmart loss prevention officer reported to Milton Police that he recognized a suspect from a previous shoplifting case and that he believed the suspect repeated the offense Feb. 12.

The employee said he believed the suspect shoplifted a box mattress and observed him walk to a gray Mercedes sedan. He then showed officers video footage from the previous incident and the Feb. 12 incident. According to the police report, the suspect from both videos appeared to be the same person.

The suspect was still in his vehicle when police were on scene, and they approached the driver, asking for identification “based on articulable reasonable suspicion of the shoplifting incidents.”

The driver then quickly accelerated away from officers. Police ran the Georgia tag which came back as registered to two people. One was the originally identified suspect. Police observed a woman in the front passenger seat but couldn’t positively identify her as the second registered owner.

The Walmart employee later said he reviewed footage for the suspected shoplifting of the box mattress to confirm his suspicion. But he determined the item had been paid for.

Man leaves Walmart with two televisions

MILTON, Ga. — Milton Police were dispatched to the Walmart on Windward Parkway Feb. 9 regarding a shoplifting incident and were informed of the vehicle information and tag, but the vehicle was not found after fleeing the scene.

Police met with an asset protection investigator, said a Black man with black dreads, possibly in his 20s and around 6-foot-3, was seen on video surveillance footage entering the Home & Living side of Walmart with a shopping cart. The man was wearing a white shirt and black jeans at the time, the police report said, and he was seen going straight to the electronics section and putting two Samsung 55-inch televisions on the shopping cart. The TVs totaled $769 in value.

The man then exited the store a few minutes later through the Home & Living side and went to his vehicle which was parked in Row 7. He then took the televisions out of the box, put them in his vehicle, placed the boxes on top of the vehicle and discarded them behind the store, the report said.

A woman was seen with the man at the vehicle, the report said, but no clear description was available.

The suspect’s vehicle was a blue Nissan Versa bearing a Georgia tag.

When running the vehicle information, police reported that the photo of the registered owner did not match the description of the man who took the televisions, and police found no possible suspect when searching other databases.

Man defrauded of $5,000 after fake call from ‘son’

MILTON, Ga. — A man reported having received a phone call around 11 a.m. Feb. 8 from someone pretending to be his son, requesting bail money.

The Feb. 9 Milton Police report said the man reported the caller was in distress and told him he was in jail for getting into a motor vehicle accident with a pregnant woman, and he had been arrested for driving under the influence.

The caller said his lawyer would be contacting him shortly. Then, the man received a call from the phony lawyer, who said it would cost $5,000 to get his son

out of jail.

The “lawyer” told the man to meet the “bond agent,” so she could pick up the cash. He first said the agent would be driving a black Hyundai with a specific tag number, then changed course, saying the transfer should be made with a female agent driving a white Chevrolet Equinox with a different tag number.

The man withdrew $5,000 from his wife’s bank account and met with the female agent at 3 p.m., handing over the cash. He told Milton Police the woman appeared to be the only person in the vehicle.

The man said he received a call from his son around 3:30 p.m., and discovered the incident to be a scam.

Police ran the tag for the Chevrolet Equinox, which returned to a rental vehicle with a Tennessee tag. Police could not find a return for the Hyundai tag the caller provided.