By Ashley Crutcher
Deputy Bill Furniss received a call on February 18 from a Hammond Hill Road resident requesting assistance in checking suspicious mail. According Furniss’ report, the postal patron discovered that the package consisted of several clear capsules containing an unknown substance that appeared to be lead.
The recipient later received a call from an unknown number, which appeared as McAlister, OK, asking if he had received the sheep worming pills that the resident had purchased from eBay for $27.50, the deputy’s report continues. The resident told the caller that he didn’t have an eBay account nor any sheep, nor had he purchased any items from eBay. The resident asked Deputy Furniss to take the capsules and identify the unknown substance.
The curious mail complaint was among 27 from February 7 to February 19 sheriff’s officers investigated.
Death Investigation
When a man’s phone calls to a co-worker inquiring about his absence from work went unanswered, he drove to his home and discovered he had died.
Deputy Britton Crawford was dispatched to the Barnett Road home.  
Deputies investigated four cases of theft including:
• An incident on February 13 when Deputy Lee Martin was dispatched to Chapman Road where an empty propane tank was reported missing.
• Deputy Mark Allen was dispatched to another complaint of theft on February 16 on Coles Point Road where a shop owner reported to have discovered a Husqvarna chain saw and a Poulan chainsaw, a battery charger as well as various hand tools missing.
• On February 18 Investigator Terry Smith took a report stating that unknown charges totaling about $1,000 had been made on a victim’s debit card.
• Investigator Danny Beavers took a report of identity theft on February 19 when a man told him that someone had been filing on his income tax since 2012 and that he had not filed an income tax return between 2007 until February of 2015 because he was incarcerated in the Mississippi Department of Corrections. The investigation is ongoing, the report states.
Domestic Violence
Four domestic violence reports were investigated:
• On February 9 Deputy Harold Lewis was dispatched to Rockhill Road to investigate a report that the resident destroyed the home and threw his live-in girlfriend’s clothes outside. A 45 hi-point pistol was recovered from the home; however, no injuries were stated in the report;
• Major Albert Perkins investigated another domestic violence report February 14 on Pope-Crowder Road. The caller got into an argument with her husband and told him to leave. The report states that there were no signs of a physical altercation and no charges were filed;
• A report of intimidation of a witness was filed on February 16 by Investigator Bryan Arnold when his witness was absent at a scheduled appointment with DHS-WCS and Investigator Arnold on February 9.
According to the report, the witness and her daughter were threatened by the witness’ husband who had been charged with domestic violence and rape;
• At 1:18 a.m. on February 18 Deputy Furniss was dispatched to Carlisle Rd. where the resident explained that she and her husband were going through a divorce and that he was harassing her with phone calls.
Deputy Furniss states in his report that the man sounded intoxicated over the phone and that he then began making threats to him. The caller was charged with making harassing and threatening phone calls.
Motor Vehicle Accidents
Six reports of motor vehicle accidents include:
• A February 7 incident where Deputy Jeremy Hailey responded to an accident on Eureka Road where a white 2016 Chevrolet K1S- SUV hit the south side of a trailer. The report stated that the father of the driver informed Hailey that his son was the driver and that he was taken to Merit Health.
When the deputy went to the hospital to obtain the driver’s information he learned that the driver had never showed up;
• Other motor vehicle accidents reported to the Panola County Sheriff’s Office included a hit and run on February 15 on Curtis-Locke Station Road and four more accidents from February 12 to February 15, all involving one vehicle. The report states that out of the six accidents only one injury was reported.
Property Damage
• Deputy Dean Jones investigated of vandalism on Hwy. 51 South in Batesville about 12:20 p.m. February 12. According to the report, the complainant stated that he parked his silver 2006 Ford Taurus on his mother’s property to fix it and that sometime the week before someone had raised the hood and pulled a bunch of wires loose and removed the spark plugs from the engine.
• A resident on Oak Grove Rd. called Panola Sheriff’s office to report property damage on February 13 at 2 p.m. Deputy Tim Campbell responded to the call where the complainant stated that he and his neighbor discussed him using his neighbors water faucet to hook his water hose to as he burned leaves, but the complainant later discovered that the hose had been cut and thrown into the fire, according to the initial report.
The report also states that the neighbor claims that the complainant never had permission to use his water faucet.;
• On February 14 Deputy Josh Griffin was dispatched to a call from a resident on Hadorn Road for a report of a subject busting out the back passenger window of a white Ford Escape. Griffin states that he observed a chrome four-way lug wrench on the back floor board of the Ford Escape. An eye witness told Griffin she observed a subject throwing the lug wrench at the window before she got into a gray Chevy Impala with chrome wheels and drove away.
The owner of the Ford Escape said  that her daughter had an argument with some other girls; however, she did not know their names at the time.
• On February 17 Deputy David Mills was dispatched to Fredonia Road where a car ran off the road onto the complainant’s property and into a small ditch. The report states that the driver then revved the engine until the car caught on fire damaging the complainant’s property.
Juvenile Incident Report
Sheriff’s department officers also investigated of two juveniles, ages 11 and 12, charged with fighting at North Panola Jr. High; two more juveniles, ages 12 and 13, charged with cyber-bullying. Officers received a report of a a 16- year-old runaway. and a 15-year-old was charged with sexual battery.