Mattress storein Americus, GA

ALBANY, Ga. – Sixteen individuals are facing federal bank fraud and aggravated identity theft charges alleging their participation in a stolen mail scheme in and around the Americus, Georgia, community and Florida amounting to more than $165,000.

The federal indictment was returned on Feb. 15 charging the following defendants:

Jalen Tylee Hill aka “Roscoe Hill,” 24, of Americus, is charged with 68 counts of bank fraud, one count of fraud in connection with identification documents, 42 counts of aggravated identity theft and one count of conspiracy to possess stolen mail. On each count if convicted, Hill faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine for bank fraud, a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for fraud in connection with identification documents, two years in prison and a $250,000 fine for aggravated identity theft and a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 for possession of stolen mail;

Tyavia Deashia Richardson, 21, of Edison, Georgia, is charged with three counts of bank fraud. If convicted, Richardson faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine per count;

Quontavius Markee Hill, 31, of Americus, is charged with six counts of bank fraud. If convicted, Hill faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine per count;

Laquashia Nichole French, 25, of Americus, is charged with six counts of bank fraud. If convicted, French faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine per count;

Accacia Gordon, 25, of Americus, is charged with 13 counts of bank fraud. If convicted, Gordon faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine per count;

Dekeyvia Moasha Blackshear, 22, of Leslie, Georgia, is charged with two counts of bank fraud. If convicted, Blackshear faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine per count;

Jenetta Small, 27, of Columbus, Georgia, is charged with four counts of bank fraud. If convicted, Small faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine per count;

Jazmon Lace Whitehead, 29, of Oglethorpe, Georgia, is charged with seven counts of bank fraud. If convicted, Whitehead faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine per count;

Chasity Lacole Wellons, 28, of Cordele, Georgia is charged with three counts of bank fraud. If convicted, Wellons faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine per count;

Kelbresha Danielle Thomas, 28, of Montezuma, Georgia, is charged with four counts of bank fraud. If convicted, Thomas faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine per count;

Kimbreyanna Andranique Peeples, 21, of Butler, Georgia, is charged with two counts of bank fraud. If convicted, Peeples faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine per count;

Victoria Carter, 23, of Americus, is charged with one count of bank fraud. If convicted, Carter faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine;

Chelsea Ja’Nay Tullis, 26, of Americus, is charged with one count of bank fraud. If convicted, Tullis faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine;

Janita Bre’Shaye Terry, 22, of Columbus, is charged with four counts of bank fraud. If convicted, Terry faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine per count;

Shaneria Sharae Murray, 31, of Ellaville, Georgia, is charged with two counts of bank fraud. If convicted, Murray faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine per count; and

Mercedes Lashon Brown, 24, of Americus, is charged with three counts of bank fraud. If convicted, Brown faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine per count.

Defendant Jalen “Roscoe” Hill remains at-large; the remaining defendants were taken into custody on Feb. 23. Those defendants had initial appearances before U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Q. Langstaff on Feb. 23. Quontavius Hill was ordered detained today, Feb. 28. Individuals with information regarding Jalen “Roscoe” Hill’s whereabouts can contact the FBI’s Atlanta Field Office at (770) 216-3000 or submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov.

According to the indictment, Jalen Hill and others would allegedly steal checks out of residential and commercial mailboxes around Americus, as well as other locations in Georgia and Florida. Jalen Hill is alleged to have recruited his co-defendants via social media to cash the checks at various banks and used other people’s means of identification to commit bank fraud on 14 occasions. In addition, Jalen Hill is alleged to have used the stolen identities of 28 people. The total amount of theft alleged in the indictment is $165,743.68.

The case is being investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the FBI, the U.S Secret Service (USSS) and the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Redavid is prosecuting the case.

An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Topics

Financial Fraud

PLAINS, Ga. — The people of Plains, Jimmy Carter’s hometown, are sharing their favorite stories about him.

There is one famous place down the road that’s even more famous because of him.

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Channel 2′s Berndt Petersen was live in the City of Americus at the Windsor Hotel. Part of the Victorian hotel was named in Carter’s honor.

You know how lots of places are famous because George Washington slept there? Well, just down the road from Plains, Jimmy Carter slept “here.”

Steve Short with the Americus Welcome Center calls it the icon of downtown Americus.

“You can Google Americus, Georgia and the first images you see are the Windsor Hotel,” said Short.

He takes visitors on tours of what looks like a Victorian palace built in 1892 when Americus was the eighth largest city in the state.

The famous and the infamous have stayed here as well.

“They say that Al Capone has stayed there. He had his own private security guard at the foot of the stairs leading up to the suite back in the day,” said Short.

In this day, the Windsor is known for the beloved guests who were here one night in Nov. 2002. Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter stayed in what is known as the presidential suite.

It’s so special, Channel 2 was not allowed inside the suite unless we booked it, but images from the hotels website show what it looks like.

TRENDING STORIES:

“The story goes that President and Mrs. Carter had never spent the night at the Windsor Hotel. The previous owner, Mr. Patel, wanted them to spend the night so he could officially say the Carters had stayed at the Windsor. After they did, once President and Mrs. Carter stayed there, they named it the Carter Presidential Suite,” said Short.

If you’d like to stay in the Carter Presidential Suite—tonight—you can. You can book the room for $293.

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IN OTHER NEWS:

South Georgia Technical College Women’s Head Basketball Coach James Frey has been named the GCAA Coach of the Year. GCAA Commissioner David Elder (right) is shown above presenting SGTC Lady Jets head coach James Frey with the Coach of the Year plaque. Photo by SGTC Athletics

From Staff Reports

AMERICUS – South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets head coach James Frey was selected as the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association (GCAA) Division 1 women’s basketball Coach of the Year for 2022 – 2023 and sophomore forward Alexia Dizeko earned the GCAA Player of the Year honors. The Lady Jets ended the 2022 -2023 regular season as the top ranked National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division 1 women’s team.

Sophomore guard Luana Leite was named as the GCAA Defensive Player of the Year. Dizeko and sophomore Fanta Gassama were listed as first team GCAA players and Luana Leite was a second team All-GCAA player.

This was the seventh time in 11 years that SGTC Lady Jets head coach James Frey had earned the GCAA Coach of the Year honors. The Lady Jets finished the regular season with an unbeaten 15 – 0 conference record and 29 – 1 overall record. They defeated Albany Tech and East Georgia State College in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region XVII Tournament to move to 31 – 1. Their only loss this season was to nationally ranked Gulf Coast in their opening game of the season.

Frey has put together 300 wins as a head coach at SGTC and his current record is now 304 – 60 overall. He has guided the Lady Jets to the NJCAA national tournament in nine of the 11 years he has served as head coach. This season will be the seventh straight year that the Lady Jets have earned the right to participate in the national tournament and the 10th overall since the program began in 2004.

Frey and the Lady Jets have been in the number one spot in the NJCAA Division I National Rankings for the past seven weeks and held on to the top spot in the final NJCAA regular season poll. They have put together 31 consecutive wins. This is the first time South Georgia Technical College has had a team ranked number one in men’s or women’s sports. The Lady Jets are hoping to maintain that top ranking going into the NJCAA National Tournament March 22^nd – 27^th in Lubbock, Texas.

This was the third time at SGTC that Frey guided the Lady Jets to an undefeated conference record. The Lady Jets were 18 – 0 in 2018 -2019, 17 – 0 in 2019 – 2020, and 15 – 0 in the 2022 – 2023. Frey is only the second coach in the 19-year history of the women’s program at SGTC. Brandon Harrell, current women’s basketball coach at Georgia Highlands began the program in 2004 – 2005. He left to start the program at Georgia Highlands in 2012.

The Lady Jets are averaging 72.6 points per game this season behind the outstanding play of Alexia Dizeko, Luana Leite, and Fanta Gassama and the other 10 members of the top-ranked Lady Jets.

Alexia Dizeko was the GCAA Freshman of the Year and first team All-GCAA player last season. She was also an NJCAA and WBCA second team All-American her first season at SGTC. This season, she earned the Player of the Year honors.

The 5’ 11” forward from Sion, Switzerland, is averaging 16.6 points per game. She is hitting 54.5% of her attempted shots from the field and 79.6 percent of her free throw shots. She is also a 32.1% shooter from the three-point line.

Sophomore Luana Leite, 5’ 7” from Sao Paola, Brazil, earned the GCAA Defensive Player of the Year award. She also averages 11.3 points per game. Fanta Gassama was the other SGTC Player recognized. The 6’ 1” center from Mataro, Spain, is the second leading scorer for the Lady Jets with 13.2 points per game. She is also the leading rebounder pulling down an average of 13.4 each game.

Other players recognized by the GCAA included: Co-Freshmen of the Year, D’Myra Griffin of East Georgia State College and Jordan Eafford of Andrew College. Torrion Starks of East Georgia, Mariah Spain of Albany Tech and Cheyenne Holloman of Georgia Highlands joined SGTC’s Dizeko and Gassama on the GCAA first team. SGTC’s Luana Leite, East Georgia Zuriyah Davis, Andrew’s Ja’mya Johnson, Albany Tech’s Dsais Wyatt and Georgia Highland’s Madiala Disbate were the second team All-GCAA players.

Sumter County Medical is now owned by Phoebe. The hospital was rebuilt on the south side of town.

AMERICUS, Ga. (WALB) - Wednesday marks 16 years since a deadly EF-3 tornado ripped through Americus and destroyed their medical center.

That doesn’t erase the fact people have bad memories from the day of the tornado.

“Whenever the wind picks up… yeah I still get nervous,” Manger of Clinic Drug Store, Stephen Pinnell said.

His doors got blown in. He said that it looked like a bomb went off with all of the trees and power lines down. His near-century-old business has recovered since, but not everywhere has. Nothing much has changed to the property after the hospital was demolished in the weeks after the storms.

There has been development recently in the area. A developer bought the hospital property a few years ago, according to QPublic. There is now a Chick-Fil-A in an adjacent lot. A different owner is building a Papa John’s across the street.

EMA Director Nigel Poole says these are very promising developments for the town.

“There’s room for more activity that I know our county chamber it’s working really hard to get people here,” Poole said.

Poole was a part of the Red Cross response. He and EMS services saved many lives that day and the weeks following.

Andrea Wilson was on the hospital staff. She was alert that day. Then they heard about storms south of Plains.

“So we were kind of alert preparing to potentially have damage to our community. But certainly didn’t expect it to hit the facility,” Wilson said.

Lynwood McClung was also part of the EMS response. He said that he drove home thinking the worst was past them. He came back after the tornado hit.

“They did a good job protecting visitors in the building, at the time, by moving them out of the way of windows,” McClung said.

The hospital was prepared for the storm because they did routine drills. Drills they still do today. What has changed since then is an internal system that alerts hospital staff.

The town had tornado sirens at the time. Now they don’t. Poole told WALB about what life-saving technology the town has as they wait for new ones.

“A positive that came about from the tornadoes that came through was the mass notification system that Sumter County arises. We use the Code Red system that allows us to get almost instantaneous messages to all of our citizens in Sumter County. It specializes to where the people are in town,” Poole said.

Click here to sign up for the alerts.

Sumter County Medical is now owned by Phoebe Health Systems. The hospital was rebuilt on the south side of town. WALB has been told they’re in a much better space now.

“At our new campus, we have a walking trail. We had the ability to expand our hospital with 76 beds and 183,000 square feet,” Community Relations for Phoebe Sumter, Marcus Johnson said.

Johnson adds that the hospital now focuses on preventative care rather than treatment.

Copyright 2023 WALB. All rights reserved.

AMERICUS – After suffering a hard-fought 2-1 loss at Warner Robins on Friday, a game in which Sumter County starters Creighton Myers and Ary Flores were issued red cards, the Sumter County High School boys’ soccer team came into their Region 1-AA match against Dodge County (DC) on Monday hoping to end their three-game losing streak and stay in the hunt for one of the top four spots that will represent Region 1-AA in the GHSA Class AA state playoffs. However, defensive breakdowns in the midfield and on the back line led to a six-goal barrage by the Indians and DC would eventually go on to defeat the Panthers 6-2 on the pitch at Alton Shell Stadium.

The loss drops SCHS to 6-5 overall and 2-3 in the Region 1-AA standings. The Panthers are currently tied for third place in the region with Cook High School at 2-3. The Panthers will play Cook on Tuesday, March 7, at 7 p.m. in Adel, GA.

“It’s been challenging for us this year with people being hurt,” SCHS Head Coach Michael Pepito said. “With our two best players out, it kind of showed where the starters are versus everybody else. We were out stepped today. We weren’t moving the ball like we should. It seems like if other teams just put a really big hustle in, it challenges us so much, so that’s something that we’re going to have to fix when we can.”

Though he did not make excuses for his team’s performance, Pepito went on to say that having sets of back-to-back games makes it difficult to get in a few days of good, solid training and it is something that he and his club needs to figure out, considering that they have several back-to-back games during the season.

Things began ominously for the Panthers 38 seconds into the match, as DC’s Aggrey Summey scored the first of his two goals of the match. However, in the 17^th minute, the Panthers tied the game when Jose Perez delivered a free kick into the box from about 40 yards out. Leo Diaz was able to get his foot on it amongst the DC defenders and slotted it into the net.

However, with 5:07 to go before halftime, the Panthers gave up a goal when Rene Mendieta scored to give the Indians a 2-1 lead. Not long thereafter, Summey scored his second goal of the match to give DC a 3-1 lead and Jorge Rodriguez would add to the Indians’ lead with a goal. The Panthers were able to respond when Diaz scored his second goal of the match on a free kick from about 40 yards out, but DC responded with two more goals from Erick Avalos and Carlos Cruz to salt away its 6-2 victory.

The Panthers will not have long to think about this result, as they will travel down to Adel, GA on Tuesday, March 7, to take on the Cook Yellow Jackets as part of another back-to-back. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.