Cop Shop Blog

COP SHOP: Georgia mom refuses to let ex-husband see child because of coronavirus fears

Cops in Monroe County were dispatched to a house on Unionville Road in early April to check on a child-custody matter. A man from Tennessee had shown up for a weekend visit with his child. The father, 33, would later tell a sheriff’s deputy that his wife, according to the deputy’s write-up of the April 3 episode, “advised him she would not be releasing the child to him due to the national pandemic occurring at this time. She did not feel safe for the juvenile to go with the father.” The mother, 29, informed the deputy that “she had no issue with sending the child with (the father) if there wasn’t a pandemic and virus going around. However, in this case she feels that it is necessary to keep (the child) home.” The deputy told the father that due to Georgia’s stay-at-home order the child’s mother had “the right to deny visitation if she feels that it put the child in danger,” the deputy’s report noted. “I then advised him due to the nation’s current situation, I do feel that it is best.”

Dispatches: A “physical altercation” at a Circle K gas mart on Riverside Drive in late January came to the attention of Bibb County sheriff’s deputies after one of the men involved showed up at a local hospital with a stab wound to the stomach. The man, 34, told the cops he had been at the store when a few other people were holding up the checkout line in front of him. The man said he cleared his throat, which the folks holding up the line apparently mistook as the man voicing his impatience. A fight broke out and the man said he was stabbed with a blue box cutter. . . . A man wearing a coat and shorts reportedly went into the AAMCO transmission shop on Pine Street in Macon one day late last year and began “acting very weird,” as a Bibb sheriff’s report noted. The man mumbled to himself and told the proprietor, “Somebody said they was going (to) pay me me to burn this building down, and when I get more information I’ll let you know who it is.” The man, before leaving, left his name and phone number on a piece of paper. It wasn’t clear if the cops ever caught up with him.

Joe Kovac Jr.
The Telegraph
Joe Kovac Jr. writes about local news and features for The Telegraph, with an eye for human-interest stories. Joe is a Warner Robins native and graduate of Warner Robins High. He joined the Telegraph in 1991 after graduating from the University of Georgia. As a Pulliam Fellowship recipient in 1991, Joe worked for the Indianapolis News. His stories have appeared in the Washington Post, the Seattle Times and Atlanta Magazine. He has been a Livingston Award finalist and won numerous Georgia Press Association and Georgia Associated Press awards.
Get unlimited digital access
#ReadLocal

Try 1 month for $1

CLAIM OFFER