NE Ga police blotter includes cause of fire at Banks Crossing motel

Investigators say the fire the burned a motel in Banks Crossing was accidental in origin: they say the Monday blaze destroyed a Motel 6 on Highway 441 near Tanger Outlets was apparently sparked by an electrical wiring malfunction. More than two dozen motel guests were displaced and two firefighters were treated for heat exhaustion.

Police in Elberton and deputies in the Elbert County Sheriff’s Office are investigating a string of automobile break-ins, at least half dozen reported over the past two weeks in Elberton.

A 49 year-old man from Forsyth County is charged in Hall County, accused of sexual battery while working as a food services contractor at the Hall County jail. Charles Rice was booked into the jail in Gainesville, where he is facing allegations in the reported assaults of inmates said to have happened last week.

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