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Crime & Safety

Inside the Police Reports: Drinking, Drugs and Paint Primer

Lilburn Patch takes a closer look at some crimes that have happened in town.

Each week, Lilburn Patch takes a deeper look into recent crime reports in the area, this week from both the Gwinnett Police Department and the Lilburn Police Department.

-Obvious and Out in the Open: A Gwinnett County police officer performed a routine safety check on a white vehicle on Ross Road and Vecoma Lane. When the 18-year-old driver rolled down his window, the officer immediately smelled a strong odor of burning marijuana from the car. He asked for the driver's license and if there were any weapons or illegal drugs in the car, but the driver denied that he had either one. The cop searched the driver and nothing showed up, but when searching the car, the officer found a lit joint, in plaint sight on the center console right next to the driver's seat. The driver admitted to being the owner of the joint and said that he had been smoking it right before he was pulled over, contradicting what he had said earlier. He was arrested and agreed to give a blood sample. 

-New to Georgia Roads?: Gwinnett Police received a call about a car "weaving all over the roadway" on Highway 78 near Lake Lucerne Road. An officer approached Ross Road and noticed a bronze Cadillac swerving on many of the lanes, almost colliding with other vehicles. After pulling the vehicle over, the officer noticed the driver's bloodshot eyes, flushed face and odor of alcohol. The officer asked the driver, 50, if she had any reason for her driving, and she explained that she had just arrived in Georgia and wasn't familiar with the roads. The Arkansas woman also said that she wasn't aware that she had been swerving and denied that she had been drinking. When asked to step out of the vehicle, she swayed left and right and even fell to the ground. The officer asked her again if she had anything to drink earlier, and she still denied it, but she later finally admitted to having "a beer" at the airport while she was waiting for her father to pick her up. She failed her field sobriety test, and was administered a breathalyzer test, which indicated she was driving impaired. She was arrested and transported to the county jail. The car was released to the vehicle's owner, her father, who was in the passenger seat the whole time. The police report doesn't state if the father had also been drinking or if he drove the car home himself. 

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-Not So Sneaky: A 46-year-old man at the Home Depot on Lawrenceville Highway was caught trying to steal five gallons of paint primer. The primer, worth $89, was in a cart that the suspect had pushed through the self check-out area and store entrance without paying. The suspect said that he took the primer because he is a paint contractor and couldn't afford the primer. He also said he needed it to earn money for food. The suspect was arrested for shoplifting. The officer also took his license because he realized that, after running it in the GCIC system, it was suspended for a child support violation. 

-Taxing Matters: A tax service on Indian Trail Road informed police of a theft by sudden snatching that occurred in the office. A woman had come into the office to ask about filing her taxes in January. She returned to the location in late February to ask if the company needed any further documents for her tax preparation. The complainant placed placed a file of birth certificates on the desk in front of the suspect, who grabbed the file, fled the office and drove off in a white van. The tax service was able to give information such as her address and name, but the complainant admitted that she never saw a valid driver's license or picture ID from the woman. No further information was provided at this time.   

Find out what's happening in Lilburn-Mountain Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

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