When a police officer asks you for your middle name you should give it to him if you don’t want to go to jail.

David Lewis Hall, 46, 104 Callahan Road, Union, is charged by the Union Public Safety Department with assault and battery and giving false information to police.

The assault and battery charge stems from an incident that occurred at a residence at 307 Wallace St. Thursday afternoon. The victim told the responding officer she, Hall and several others were sitting on the porch drinking beer. During an ensuing argument, the victim said Hall hit her with a beer can. The report states the can scratched the left side of the victim’s face.

The false information to police charge derives from an incident later that day in which a public safety officer went to the incident location after receiving information that Hall was there. The incident report states when the officer arrived he noticed two men sitting on a couch. The officer then asked if anyone knew Hall’s middle name. The first man said he didn’t. The officer then asked the second man who said he didn’t know Hall’s middle name either.

After acquiring a photo of Hall from the Union County Jail, the officer discovered that the second man he questioned was in fact Hall. He placed Hall under arrested and transported him to jail.

Attempted Credit Card Fraud

The following incident is being investigated by the Union County Sheriff’s Office:

Scam

One way to avoid getting taken in by a scam is to start asking questions of the con artist and that’s just what a local businessman did recently.

An investigator met with the businessman who said he was at work when he received a phone call on Feb. 26. He said that when he answered the phone, a woman identifying herself as Jennifer Ramirez said she had been referred to him by a friend. The woman said that a friend of hers had a vehicle in Florida with a broken transmission and she wanted the businessman to go Florida and tow it back to South Carolina. The woman then gave the businessman the VIN number of the car they wanted towed. She said they would pay for this using a credit card and that she would give him the card number and for him to run it through for $3,500 and then wire them $1,000 cash via Western Union.

The businessman, however, began to question the woman and that’s when she hung up.

On Monday, the businessman received another phone call — this time the caller was a man who identified himself as Wiliam Graves. The businessman said the caller gave him the same information and requested the same amount of money transferred in the same manner as the woman who called Feb. 26. He told the investigator the call may have been made from a computer because an AT&T operator was relaying the information. The busniessman said he tried to get more information from the caller but was told they couldn’t release that information and they finally hung up.

The businessman said he called the number back and a woman answered and immediately told him the person he was trying to reach was unavailable. The investigator ran the VIN number and it came back as a 2005 GMC Sierra. The phone numbers were from New York and California.

The incident report concludes saying that having recognized the calls were a scam the business suffered no monetary loss.

Arrests

The following persons were arrested by the sheiff’s office:

John Blake Turner, 31, 206 Francis Ave., Union, charged Wednesday with no SC driver’s license and simple assault.

Eric Stephen Taliaferro, 38, 1314 West Main St., Union, charged Thursday with attempting to purchase a Schedule IV narcotic.

Jeremy Chad Cobb, 36, 1939 Glenn Springs Road, Spartanburg, charged Thursday with possession of a Schedule IV controlled substance; possesson of a Schedule II controlled substance; and unlawful possession of prescription drugs.

Joshua Richard Meadows, 25, 421 Sardis Road, Union, charged Thursday with purchase of a Schedule IV narcotic within a half mile of a school; purchase of a Schedule IV narcotic; and purchase of a Schedule III narcotic.

Kevin Stewart Dunnihoo, 34, 926 Gaffney Highway, Jonesville, charged Wednesday with driving under suspension, trespass after notice, criminal domestic violence, resisting arrest and assault with a deadly weapon.