A convicted sex offender was arrested Tuesday near a Garden City elementary school after law enforcement was informed he’d been loitering in the area several times.
SLIDESHOW: View photos and information on Savannah's registered sex offenders: Part 1 and Part 2.
The Chatham County Sheriff’s Office’s Sex Offender Registration and Tracking, or SORT, unit arrested 40-year-old Michael Herbert Suggs near Gould Elementary School and charged him with failing to register as a sex offender, said Michelle Gavin, sheriff’s office spokeswoman.
Suggs spent 14 years in prison after he was convicted of criminal sexual conduct in the second degree in Michigan.
In Georgia, law requires convicted sex offenders to register with their county’s sheriff’s office within 72 hours of relocating to that area. Gavin said evidence showed Suggs had been in Chatham County for at least three weeks when he was apprehended.
Pooler man indicted in cleaver attack
A Pooler man on Wednesday was indicted for criminal attempt to commit murder in the November assault with a meat cleaver on his 8-year-old stepdaughter.
Li Chen hit Judy Chen in the head with the “bladed end of a meat cleaver” on Nov. 27, the Chatham County grand jury determined. The assault occurred in the presence of at least two other minor children, the indictment charged.
The indictment obtained by Assistant District Attorney Ann Elmore also charged Chen, 31, with multiple cruelty to a child counts including by assaulting the victim in the presence of two children younger than 18, and family violence aggravated battery by “rendering useless (the victim’s) eyes… by penetrating her skull … and causing her to lose vision.”
The victim survived.
Mother, baby found
Authorities found the 17-year-old mother who went missing Monday along with her 3-month-old infant.
Jakeira Adrinae Bride was found safe in Savannah on Wednesday morning, said Effingham County Sheriff’s Office spokesman David Ehsanipoor.
The baby, Adrian, was dropped off at a family member’s house Tuesday night, after both were reported missing. The child also was safe and well.
The mother and child were last seen Monday afternoon. She was described as a possible runaway.
Railroad crossing roadwork to close Dean Forest lane
Railroad crews will close the outside, southbound lane of Dean Forest Road at the railroad crossing between Old Dean Forest Road and U.S. 80 today for maintenance work.
The lane will close at 10 a.m. and reopen at 4 p.m., weather permitting.
Motorists are advised to reduce speeds as they travel through this maintenance work zone and expect delays in this area. Message signs, barrels and/or cones will be utilized to alert the public of the upcoming changes. Drivers should be aware that personnel and equipment will be operating in close proximity to travel lanes.
Lane closures on interstates for guard rail repairs
Some interstate lanes in Chatham County will close during daytime hours today and Friday, as the Georgia Department of Transportation repairs guard rails.
Contractors will intermittently close lanes or shoulder areas along all of Interstate 516, including the ramps connecting it to Veteran’s Parkway, and about a mile of the eastbound lane of Interstate 16 to where it ends in Savannah beginning at 9 a.m.
The lanes will reopen to traffic both days at 5 p.m., weather permitting.
Motorists are advised to reduce speeds as they travel through these construction work zones. Message signs, barrels and/or cones will be utilized to alert the public of the upcoming changes.
Compiled by Corey Dickstein, Jan Skutch and G.G. Rigsby.