String, glue may have been used to steal rent

The manager of an Augusta apartment complex told police Tuesday that he thinks two men used string and glue to steal rent payments from the facility’s drop box, according to an incident report from the Richmond County Sheriff ’s Office.

Greg Lee, manager of the Hunters Run Apartments on Center West Parkway, reported Tuesday at 2:20 p.m. that a $500 rent check was missing from the facility’s drop box and the remaining contents “were sticky with a glue-like substance.”

Lee called police after a tenant came to the apartment’s leasing office complaining he got a late rent notice.

The resident said he slipped a money order into the deposit box at about 2 p.m. Saturday after purchasing the note from a local convenience store. He said he filled in his contact information, but left the “pay to” portion blank.

Lee provided police a video of a black vehicle pulling up to the leasing office on Sunday at 2:55 p.m. and two men walking to the drop box.

The first, a white man in his 50s to 60s with graying hair and wearing a maroon jacket and black slacks, was carrying items in his right hand. The second, a white man with black hair in his late 20s to early 30s, was seen leaving with what appeared to be a white piece of paper “consistent with the size and shape of a money order,” the report stated.