Bainbridge Public Safety has charged 45-year-old Andrea Linette Griffith of 1029 E. Evans St. with theft by taking and forgery for allegedly taking checks and valuable property belonging to another person.

According to a BPS incident report, a 67-year-old Bainbridge woman had reported on Nov. 20 that she believed Griffih had taken a large amount of jewelry and cashed checks from the victim’s savings account.

Capt. Jack Bunting looked over copies of the checks, which he observed were made out to Griffith and signed by the victim, who denied having signed the checks.

The victim met Griffith early in 2008 and took her in with the belief she was having problems getting her medicine and supporting herself financially.

BPS Investigator Chris Jordan later recovered around $30,000 worth of merchandise that had allegedly been pawned by Griffith.

On Nov. 22, Capt. Bunting and Officer Taylor Mills visited Griffith’s apartment on Shotwell Street in Bainbridge but no one initially would come to the door. After knocking repeatedly over about five minutes, officers left the apartment complex and parked nearby. Soon after, they observed Griffith’s car—which had been identified earlier by its license plate—pulling out of the apartment. Griffith was pulled over and then arrested.

Police investigating store burglary

BPS investigators are looking into who may have broken into Premier Sales, located at 504 E. Calhoun St., early on the morning of Thursday, Dec. 1.

Responding to an alarm at around 3:10 a.m. last Thursday, officers found the store’s entrance door and a display case shattered. The burglar had left behind drops of blood on the display case and surrounding areas.

However, the burglar only got away with a number of imitation cell phones used for display purposes.

Anyone with information about a possible suspect may make an anonymous tip by calling BPS at 248-2038.

GSP joins Toys for Tots campaign

The Georgia Department of Public Safety, which oversees the Georgia State Patrol, has joined the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve’s 2009 Toys for Tots campaign.

Collection boxes are being distributed to the 48 Georgia State Patrol posts across the state and toy donations may be made until the close of business Friday, Dec. 11. The toys donated should be new and unwrapped.

Toys may be dropped off at the GSP posts on weekdays between the hours of 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. The post serving Decatur, Seminole and Miller counties is located at 229 S. 4th St. in Colquitt, just off U.S. 27.

The toys collected at the Georgia State Patrol posts will stay in the local communities, said Col. Bill Hitchens, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Safety.

“This is about neighbors helping neighbors,” he said.