A woman said an unknown man stole her purse while she was walking to a gas station on Alcovy Road Wednesday early morning.

A Covington police officer responded to a home on Johnson Drive after receiving a call about a theft later that day on Wednesday afternoon around noon. The officer spoke with the woman who said she was walking to the Shell gas station on Alcovy Road from Johnson Road around 12:30 a.m.

When the woman got to the I-20 overpass bridge, an unidentified black man came up behind her and snatched her purse from her shoulder and then got into a green sedan vehicle and drove away.

The woman told police she did not have a cell phone and she was too scared to walk to the Newton Medical Center to use their free phone to call police.

The woman walked back her home and decided to wait until it was light outside to walk to the hospital and use the phone.

Man arrested for possession of prescription pills

A Forest Park man was arrested on Monday night after he was found with prescription pills while walking down Lakeside Circle.

A deputy with the Newton County Sheriff's Office was patrolling an area of Gross Lake Parkway when he noticed Willie Lawrence walking on Lakeside Circle.

When the deputy approached Lawrence, he quickly looked away and put his hands in his pocket. The deputy tried to make small talk with Lawrence and then asked him to remove his hands from his pockets. Lawrence continued to look around and tried to look away from the deputy.

The deputy asked Lawrence for his name and date of birth but Lawrence gave the deputy a fake name and date of birth and put his hands back in his pockets and didn't make eye contact with the deputy.

The deputy asked Lawrence if he could search him and he agreed. The deputy found 30 white pills, which he believed to be Tramadol HCL, in Lawrence's pocket. The deputy also found Lawrence's wallet and verified his name by looking at his driver's license.

The deputy asked Lawrence why he lied and he told the officer he was in enough trouble already. Lawrence was arrested and taken to the Newton County Jail.

While on the way to the jail, the deputy said Lawrence uttered that he was going to sell the pills to a friend because he didn't have any left.

Lawrence was charged with the manufacturing, selling or distribution of Schedule III drugs, drugs not in the original container, and giving a false name or false information to a police officer.

The pills were sent to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime lab for testing.