Second visit yields second arrest

Police charged Thomas Henry Gregg, 25, of 1780 Neese Commerce Road with burglary and battery under the family violence act, interference with a 911 call and criminal damage to property after an incident at Heritage Crossing Apartments.

The event began when Banks County officials reported a 911 call at about 8:30 p.m. in which a woman said “Help me,” before the phone was disconnected. Police were not able to identify the exact location of the caller, but an officer went to the Heritage Crossing apartment complex where he was unable to find anyone in need of assistance.

Two hours later, Jackson County 911 got a call from the same person and dispatched the officer back to the apartment complex where he found a 22-year-old white female who said Gregg came to her apartment to get some clothes, which he put outside the front door.

She tried to close the door, she said, but Gregg attempted to prevent her. When she was successful, and locked the door, she said he kicked in the door. When she tried to call 911, the report said, Gregg slapped the phone away, knocking her down in the process. The woman said Gregg went to another apartment to ask for a ride.

The officer contacted Madison County officials to be on the lookout for Gregg. They located him at his Neese Commerce Road residence.

When the officer asked him about the incident, Gregg said the victim threw his clothes down the stairs and when he asked her why she’d done that, Gregg said the woman threatened to call the police. Having been warned previously by another officer that his presence there would result in criminal trespass charges, Gregg said he left. He denied slapping the woman and claimed that the door had been kicked in months earlier.

The officer noted that Gregg had been arrested on a burglary charge in May at the same address.