Shotgun, airsoft gun taken during burglary
Floyd County police are looking into a burglary at a Rome home that took place sometime between June 16 and Wednesday, and resulted in the theft of a Mossberg 20-gauge shotgun and an airsoft replica of an AK47 from a closet.
According to Floyd County police reports:
The homeowner, whose address was not listed in the report, told police everything was OK in the home the last day he was there, June 15. When he came back Wednesday, he found the front door kicked open and the guns missing. Nothing else in the home was taken.
Elm Street Elementary School vandalized repeatedly
Elm Street Elementary has been vandalized on a near nightly basis as of late, with vandals throwing eggs at the rear of the school and shooting out windows with a pellet gun, reports stated. According to Rome police reports: A double-paned window at the rear of the school, 8 S. Elm St., was broken Wednesday night by someone throwing eggs at it. Prior to that incident, several holes have been made in windows from pellets being fired through them. Also, the school has had to replace a gutter downspout, shrubbery, a tree and multiple terraces because they were either damaged or pulled up.
Adjacent businesses broken into at Second Ave., Eighth St.
Rome police are investigating two burglaries and an attempted breakin at three adjacent businesses near the intersection of East Second Avenue and East Eighth Street sometime between Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning. According to Rome police reports: The Farm Bureau Insurance, 725 E. Second Ave., and Kim’s Portraits, 710 Lee Ave., were burglarized after someone accessed the buildings through windows. Dr. William Dismuke’s dentist office at 201 E. Eighth St. had a window pried open and broken, with the glass pulled out from the frame by a half-inch. No entry was made to the dentist office.
A window to the storage office of the Farm Bureau was shattered with a rock and someone went through the window by stepping on a broken chair, pulling themselves up through the high window. Several offices were ransacked and the cash drawer in the front lobby was on the floor and $150 was taken out of it after it was pried open. Also, three watches, valued at $500, and a pocket knife, valued at $30, were taken from an office.
The back window to Kim’s Portraits was pried outward, and three iPhones, valued at $420, were taken from an office.
Convicted felon arrested on drug, firearm charges
A Rome man was in jail without bond Thursday night after police reportedly found him with methamphetamine, syringes and a .22-caliber pistol when he is a convicted felon, during the execution of a search warrant, reports stated.
According to Floyd County Jail reports:
Harley Dewayne Morris, 22, of 120 Padlock Mountain Road, was arrested at his home around 11:15 a.m. Wednesday. He is charged with felony possession of methamphetamine, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and misdemeanor possession of drug-related objects.
Rome man accused of entering auto, stealing gun
A Rome man was in jail without bond Thursday night after being charged with felony entering an automobile with intent to commit a theft or a felony.
According to Floyd County Jail reports:
Larry Darnell Dorsey, 37, of 416 Superba Ave., was arrested at his home around 9:45 a.m. Thursday. He entered a 2000 Chevrolet Tahoe at a North Avenue address on Tuesday and removed a 9 mm handgun. He then sold the stolen gun.
Dorsey is additionally charged with misdemeanor theft by taking.
Spencer Lahr, staff writer
2 charged with possession of meth after seat-belt stop
Floyd County police arrested two men late Wednesday night after a traffic stop near the intersection of Ellis Road and Mathis Road.
According to Floyd County Jail reports:
Terry Hayden Rittenhouse, 47, of 85 Economy Lane, and Ronald Lee Smith Jr., 41, of 128 Ellis Road, were charged with felony possession of methamphetamine after Rittenhouse was stopped by police for a seat belt violation.
Police recovered a bag of suspected meth along with digital scales, a scale calibrator and needles used to inject drugs.
Both men were also charged with felony probation violations and misdemeanor possession of drug-related objects while Rittenhouse was also charged with the seat belt violation.
Rittenhouse and Smith were in jail without bond Thursday night on a probation violation charge.
Doug Walker, associate editor