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3 arrested in robbery, shooting

3 arrested in robbery, shooting

MARIETTA, Ga. -- Three men were arrested earlier this week after robbing a house and shooting two of their victims.

The robbery occurred shortly before 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at a house on Lamplighter Lane in Marietta's Fox Hall subdivision.

Cobb County Police said 26-year-old Quinton Gatling, 27-year-old Ronald McCall and 29-year-old Dennis Ivory burst into the home and demanded property from the three people inside. They shot two of the victims before driving away from the scene.

Police caught up to the suspects' car and tried to pull it over near the intersection of Lower Roswell Road and South Marietta Parkway. At that point, one of the men jumped from the car and began to run.

The cop who tried to chase the suspect was accidentally hit by another police cruiser and broke his leg, according to Cobb County Police.

Officers eventually rounded up all three suspects and charged them with burglary, attempted robbery and aggravated assault.

Man wanted for forging court documents

Man wanted for forging court documents

DUNWOODY, Ga. -- Dunwoody Police have secured warrants for a man accused of scamming a woman who was supposed to appear in court.

According to Dunwoody Police spokesman Sgt. Mike Carlson, 46-year-old Carlos Sanchez Esquivel of Marietta will face a charge of first degree forgery.

Esquivel's alleged victim, 27-year-old Yovany Baltazar-Cardenas, received a traffic citation in Dunwoody last September. Esquivel told Baltazar-Cardenas not to appear at her scheduled court date because she was in the country illegally. He also told her that he worked as a court translator and would be able to take care of her citations, Carlson said.

Police said Esquivel charged Baltazar-Cardenas $1,000 for fake court documents in exchange for her citations.

When the victim did not attend court on her scheduled date, she was arrested for failure to appear.

Teen arrested for robbing Pizza Hut

Teen arrested for robbing Pizza Hut

MARIETTA, Ga. -- Police have arrested a teenager accused of robbing a Marietta Pizza Hut earlier this week.

The robbery happened at about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday at 250 Windy Hill Road. Police say three masked men burst into the restaurant, held a female employee at gunpoint and stole her purse. They also grabbed money from the restaurant's cash register before leaving.

The suspects didn't know that a Pizza Hut employee followed them out of the restaurant and saw them run to a house on Dewey Lane, according to Cobb County Police spokesman Sgt. Dana Pierce.

Thanks to the employee's actions, police were able to arrest 17-year-old Abdul Griffin of Smyrna and charge him with armed robbery.

Griffin is being held without bond in the Cobb County Adult Detention Center.

2 arrested in 2010 death of cab driver

2 arrested in 2010 death of cab driver

MARIETTA, Ga. -- Cobb County police have arrested two men in connection with the November 2010 death of a cab driver.

The victim, 23-year-old Ricardo Peter Francois of Powder Springs, was shot to death in his Rayo Taxi service van on November 20, 2010. His body was discovered inside the cab, which was parked in front of a building at the Lincoln Hills apartment complex in Marietta.

In January 2012, police named two suspects in Francois' death.

One of the suspects, 17-year-old Javin Rhashad Andrews of Marietta, was already in jail on unrelated charges when his arrest warrant was secured.

The second suspect, 20-year-old James Levone Mitchell of Columbia, S.C., has been arrested without incident in his hometown. He is now awaiting an extradition hearing to Georgia.

Both Andrews and Mitchell have been charged with murder and aggravated assault.

Man admits mailing threats to metro Atlanta schools

Man admits mailing threats to metro Atlanta schools

ATLANTA -- An Oak Lawn, Ill. man pleaded guilty in federal court last week to mailing threats to four metro Atlanta schools.

U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said that 29-year-old Valtrez Stewart admitted to mailing the threats in January and February of last year. The notes were created out of collages of letters clipped from newspapers and magazines. They included threats of a bomb going off and killing at least 20 people, and promises of brutal murders if money was not paid to certain people.

Stewart pleaded guilty to sending the letters to Marietta High School, Meadowcreek High School in Norcross, Northview High School in Johns Creek and Stephenson Middle School in Stone Mountain.

Holiday Crime Prevention Plan exceeds expectations

Holiday Crime Prevention Plan exceeds expectations

MARIETTA, Ga. -- The Marietta Police Department has arrested four people this week as part of its 2011 Holiday Season Crime Prevention Plan.

The program was rolled out in November. Its stated goal was to educate Marietta residents on the safety measures that were put into place for their protection over the holidays.

This week's first arrest was made on Washington Avenue, where an officer spotted a man using burglary tools to break into cars and steal items from them. Later in the week, another officer arrested two suspects as they tried to rob two victims in a neighborhood near Franklin Road.

The most recent arrested happened Thursday morning, when police received a call about a suspicious car circling the parking lot of the Taco Bell on Powder Springs Road.