Reports dated through Jan. 20.
The following information was provided to the Reporter by the Sandy Springs Police Department from its records and is presumed to be accurate.
3 more arrested in homicide
Sandy Springs police arrested three more men Jan. 13 in connection with a double homicide last fall, bringing to six the number of men held for their roles in the shootings in what police said was a drug deal gone bad Sept. 28 at 550 Abernathy Road.
Police are seeking one more man in the case.
The latest to be arrested are Jose Renteria-Diaz, 32, Rogelio Higuera-Gutierrez, 29, and Juan Maldanado-Cervantes, 20, who lived together in the 4500 block of Roswell Road.
One of the two slain men, Santos Palacios-Vasquez, 50, also lived with them. The second victim was Antonio V. Clark, 23, of Stone Mountain.
Previously arrested and charged in the shootings are Delman Higuera-Hernandez, 29, of Sandy Springs, Jarrett Dixon, 27, of New Orleans and James Platt, 31, of Stone Mountain.
According to police, Higuera-Hernandez lived at the apartment where the shootings occurred, and he and his partners arranged to sell 2 kilos (4.4 pounds) of cocaine there to Clark, Dixon and Platt.
Investigators believe that Dixon, Platt and Clark attempted to pay for the drugs with $58,000 in counterfeit money, but they didn’t fool the sellers, resulting in a shootout involving Higuera-Hernandez, Palacios-Vasquez, Clark and Dixon. The gunfire killed Clark and Palacios-Vasquez.
Dixon, Platt and the unidentified seventh man sought in the investigation fled the apartment and surfaced at Grady Memorial Hospital, where Dixon was treated for gunshot wounds.
Higuera-Hernandez, also wounded, buried the cocaine and his weapon in the woods near his apartment before he was driven to Northside Hospital, police say.
Renteria-Diaz, Higuera-Gutierrez and Maldanado-Cervantes returned to the scene several days later and recovered the cocaine and weapon.
To date, police have found one weapon at the scene and several other stolen weapons. Police have not recovered the 2 kilos of cocaine but did seize more than 400 grams of methamphetamine, more than 100 grams of cocaine and several grams of heroin inside the apartment.
All six defendants are charged with two counts of felony murder, aggravated assault, conspiracy to traffic cocaine and numerous other charges.
Sandy Springs detectives are working to identify and arrest the seventh man who was in the apartment at the time of the shooting.
Rest in peace
A retired K-9 died of cancer this month. Norsca, who served several years with the Fulton County Police Department, was 13.
Norsca retired when his handler, Officer Sean Hanse, left the Fulton force to join the Sandy Spring police in 2006. She spent her retirement accompanying Hanse’s wife to work and playing with Sandy Springs K-9 Romy.
Robbery
4700 block of Roswell Road 30342 – A woman reported that she walked to the bus stop around 8:30 a.m. Jan. 9. While waiting for the bus, she pulled her MARTA fare card from her purse. A man approached her, stole the card and ran.
6100 block of Roswell Road 30342 – A man reported that he cashed a check at Atlanta Check Cashers just after midnight Jan. 19. He got into his car and counted the money, but a gunman walked up and robbed him of $350.
Burglary
400 block of Mount Vernon Highway 30328 – Someone forced entry into a vacant home for sale Jan. 17. Several appliances were taken.
6000 block of Riverside Drive 30328 – Someone stole more than 1,100 feet of copper gutter and downspouts from a home under construction Jan. 17.
1500 block of Treelodge Parkway 30350 – Someone tried to enter an apartment through a patio door Jan. 18 but later kicked in the front door and took three laptops, a Wii game system and a DVD player.
Theft
A man called the police to report that after hosting an open house, he discovered that two prescription drugs (Ambien) had been stolen. Ambien is prescribed for short-term insomnia and, in some cases, brain disorders. When I had a knee replacement in 2004, I had Ambien. I had a common side effect: I hallucinated, big time. While still in the hospital, I kept trying to call people, for no particular reason, at 1 or 2 in the morning. When I got home, while I was still on a walker, my poor wife and youngest son were watching TV when I came out in my underwear, on the walker, telling them to get dressed because we were going out to party. They put me back into bed.
Assault
Andrea said Richard slapped her in the mouth during an argument about who would take out the trash. Richard was gone when officers arrived. Andrea was provided with prosecution and warrant information options.
Arrests
4700 block of Roswell Road 30342 – Just after 2 a.m. Jan. 9 police went to an apartment where they found a frantic woman screaming that the man inside had a sword. The man was located but had already discarded the antique sword. He was drunk and uncooperative. The woman said he was out drinking earlier and became verbally abusive. She asked him to leave, and he got the sword and was swinging it around. She locked herself in the bathroom and called the cops.
Preston Woods Trail 30328 – A taxi driver called the police Jan. 9 and said he was stiffed for a $46 fare. The passengers gave him $12 and a $25 gift certificate to the Cheesecake Factory. Police went to the door and knocked. A man answered the door with a gun in his hand. He was belligerent and cursed at the taxi driver and the officer. The officer arrested the man and put the gun in the evidence room.
Other things
800 block of Marseilles Drive 30328 – The Sandy Springs Fire Department responded to a home Jan. 9 just after 5 a.m. A 74-year-old man died in the fire, which started in the basement.
4300 block of Spring Creek Lane 30350 – Officers responded to a noise complaint between two people complaining of barking dogs and broom sticks being pounded on the ceiling Jan. 18.
6600 block of Roswell Road 30328 – A patrol officer found a stolen car parked Jan. 19 at Publix. The car had been stolen Jan. 10 in Fulton County.
A woman called the police after an argument with her boyfriend. She said she was in the bathroom getting ready to go to a job interview, but her idiot boyfriend didn’t want her to go and wouldn’t let her out of the bathroom until it was too late. The idiot boyfriend then rolled a joint, but she was angry at him and told him she didn’t want anything to do with his selling of marijuana. He left. She called the cops. They took out a couple of ounces of pot.
People with issues
Spalding Trail 30350 – A woman reported Jan. 17 that she met a man from Stone Mountain online about three months ago. She reported that she and the man got into a texting argument, and he made the statement, under a different name (because he’s a mastermind criminal), “On my way to yo crib. We ’bout to settle this.” The original argument was over the fact that he texted her under a different name.