Law Enforcement

■ March 9 - An officer responded to a request for assistance from a resident of Colby who stated her husband was trying to take their child to his new girlfriend’s house without her permission.

The officer met with the father who said he wanted to take the child with him today, but would leave and figure out how to legally get the child if he had to. The father then told the officer that the mother did not want the child and when she was pregnant, she had hurt the child. The father could not tell the officer how she had hurt the child and continued to insist that she did not want a child.

The officer told the father that at this time the mother did not want him to take the child anywhere. The father stated he understood and would go to a family member’s house for the time being. The father requested to have a conversation with the mother before leaving. The officer told the father they would ask if the mother would be willing to do so.

The officer then spoke with the mother and informed her of the conversation with the father. The mother asked how she could get an order preventing the father from taking the child. The officer advised that they would have to get a child custody agreement in place, but since they currently reside together, that may be difficult. The officer told the mother to contact the Clark County Court and speak with them.

The mother agreed to speak with the father and stated she did not need the officer to observe at that time. The officer told the mother to call the police department directly if she needed anything else.

■ March 11 - An officer took a complaint from an Abbotsford resident. The complainant said the neighboring property’s driveway was three-fourths onto their property, which had become an issue when the neighbors had a large amount of people over. The guests would park off of the driveway and onto the complainant’s lawn, causing some ruts. The complainant stated they have addressed the issue with the neighbors, who said they would fix the ruts, but have not done so yet.

The neighbors have now had two large piles of gravel dropped off along the side of the house. The complainant thought that they were planning on extending the driveway to go through the property. If a vehicle parked alongside the house, the complainant said it would be partially on their lot and in the lawn. The complainant requested that the officer speak with the neighbors about staying on the driveway and not digging up the lawn.

The officer met with the neighbors, who were in the process of extending the driveway. The officer could see from looking at the lot line map that they were spreading into the complainant’s lot. The officer informed them of the complaint and showed them their property line. The officer advised them to make sure they knew where the lot line was before starting a big project that would affect the neighboring properties. The neighbor stated they understood and would keep vehicles parked on their driveway.

■ March 12 - An officer met with a resident of Abbotsford who stated that they noticed their outside motion light turn on. The complainant checked outside and noticed three male individuals wearing black clothing and black face masks. They were crawling on their stomachs by the vehicles in the driveway of the residence and it appeared that they were trying to open the doors to the vehicles, but all the vehicles were locked.

The complainant stated that their roommate chased after the three individuals, who all ran eastbound from the residence. One of the individuals attempted to walk into another residence, but the door was locked. The unidentified males did not try to break into the residence or the garage. The complainant said they just wanted this incident documented in case it happens again.

■ March 15 - An officer was notified of an ordinance violation at an Abbotsford residence. The complaint involved numerous possible unregistered vehicles along with a pile of stumps that were on the property. The officer met with the resident and informed them of the complaint. The resident stated they could get rid of the stump pile over the weekend. The officer then asked about a few of the unregistered vehicles at the rear of the property. The resident stated they were planning on getting the vehicles equipped with collector’s plates. The officer advised the resident to make sure the stumps were taken care of right away and to get working on the vehicle registrations. The resident stated they would.

■ March 15 - An officer received a report of a hit and run involving a vehicle that had struck a road sign and kept going. The officer found the sign on Division Street in Colby. The sign was in the median and had directed traffic around it. The officer was advised that the vehicle was a maroon Chevy Trailblazer, registered to an individual in Unity. The officer went to the address and spoke to a resident, who informed the officer that the vehicle owner no longer lived at the residence. The resident said the vehicle had recently been put up for sale. The officer then contacted the sellers of the car, who stated they sold it to an individual, but they did not have any phone number or address for the individual.

On March 17, the officer was advised of recent law enforcement contact with the car. The driver at the time was an individual residing in Abbotsford. There had been a couple of contacts with the same car and driver, who gave several different last names and dates of births. The officer went to the address listed for the driver but, no one answered and the vehicle was not there.

An officer met with a female individual at the police department who wanted to turn herself in as the driver of the car when it crashed into the sign and left. She verbally identified herself and gave the officer her current address in Colby. She stated that she had hit a stop sign at the intersection near a gas station in Colby, and had gone straight home after hitting the sign. She then stated that someone had now taken the vehicle from her residence. The officer later learned that the vehicle was now located at a farm southwest of Marshfield.

The officer did not believe that the female individual had given her real name, With further investigation, the officer was able to get an identity of a female individual connected to the listed owner of the vehicle. The female individual had received the vehicle from the original owner because they owed her money. She was going to resell it but didn’t have the title. The person who sold it to the individual residing in Abbotsford was the woman’s son.

The officer was informed by the woman’s sister that the name she used was their mother’s name. The sister confirmed that the woman the officers had spoken to at the police station was the person the officers had connected to the original owner of the vehicle. The sister stated she didn’t know anything about an accident, and that she and her sister were working at the time, something their place of employment would be able to confirm. The sister agreed to accompany the officer to speak with the women and confirm her identity.

The woman answered the door at her residence in Colby and was shocked to see her sister with the officer. The woman acknowledged and confirmed her sister’s relation to her, and the sister confirmed the woman’s identity.

The woman admitted that she had been at work during the crash. She said her husband was driving the vehicle at the time and came to pick her up from work. She noticed that he had been drinking so she drove them home. She did not notice any damage to the vehicle until she parked at their residence. She did not know what he had hit, and he could not remember when she asked him.

The woman admitted that she had lied about her name, and was willing to put all of the driving responsibility on her husband. The officer explained to her all of the potential violations in this matter, and told her that they would be returning when the husband was home to issue them tickets. The officer also advised that they would be responsible for paying for the damages to the sign.