A woman met with LaGrange police officers Wednesday at the LaGrange Police Department on Haralson Street after finding her mostly bed-bound brother dehydrated and lying in filth for an unknown amount of time.

She explained to officers that her brother suffers from dementia, diabetes, high blood pressure and is partially blind.

The woman said while cleaning him up and changing the bedding, the man began to pass out. When he woke up, she said he begged her for water.

According to the woman, the elderly man was transported to the hospital and was treated for dehydration.

She told officers that another relative is supposed to be caring for the man — taking care of his finances, paying rent, purchasing medications and responsible for his personal hygiene.

The woman said she learned at the hospital her brother’s rent had not been paid in months and he was now being evicted from his home.

The case was turned over to LPD’s Criminal Investigation Section for further review.

Man uses gift cards to defraud store

An scam artist conned a convenience store clerk out of giving him $700 worth of gift cards for free, according to a police report.

The manager of the Summit at 1506 Lafayette Parkway called LPD about 8:45 a.m. Thursday when she noticed the fraudulent returns on one of the cash registers.

She told officers that a male customer entered the store about 7:30 p.m. Saturday and attempted to purchase a gift card in the amount of $100. During the course of the transaction, the man walked out of store security camera range to pick up a bottle of juice, which he tried to purchase with the gift card, the manager stated.

According to the report, when the clerk rang up the juice and tired to use the gift card to pay, the card was declined.

The manager told officers this happened seven times before the customer ended the transaction and left the store.

The manager said as she watched the store security footage she noticed the customer was actually providing the clerk with a different gift card each time, and fraudulently obtained $100 each attempted transaction under the guise that the card had not been properly loaded by the employee initially.

Police were investigating.

Vandals throw rocks at school bus

It was a rough ride for some children on their way home from school Wednesday afternoon after someone broke out their bus window with a rock.

A Troup County school bus was dropping students off about 3:45 p.m. at the corner of Union and Revis streets when the bus driver told an LPD officer someone threw a rock at the bus, shattering the rear window. None of the children on the bus were hurt.

According to the bus monitor, a group of three black males who appeared to be juveniles wearing red shirts were standing at the corner of Union Street and East Depot streets when the window shattered. The monitor said all three then ran.

The bus driver estimated the damage at about $200.