The Tifton Police Department and the Tift County Sheriff’s Office are investigating recent reports of a rape, two vandalisms and an assault.

A woman reported to a deputy Thursday that a black male known to her had raped her juvenile daughter. The incident reported indicated the assailant used “strong arm” force when he committed the crime. The incident is alleged to have occurred in an east Tifton neighborhood. No further information was available.

Two Tifton Police Department officers responded to the Holiday Inn off U.S. Highway 82 to reports Wednesday that a white male and a white female were trying to break into the Coke machine located at the back of the hotel. The man and woman were not on the scene when the officer arrived, but someone told the officer that the pair was spotted headed toward the Days Inn in a red and black Chevy S-10. The officers were told by someone else that the pair had gone to the Waffle House on U.S. Highway 82 and I-75.

The officers discovered the subjects at Flash Foods on U.S. Highway 82 West. Both were inside the store when the officers approached them. The officers followed the subjects and told them to come outside the store for questioning. The man walked toward his vehicle parked at the fuel pump and told one of the officers that his identification was inside the truck. The officer wrote that once the suspect was inside his vehicle, he started the truck. An officer told him to shut the vehicle off and, according to the incident report, the man revved the engine.

The officer wrote that he and the officer assisting him drew their weapons and again ordered the suspect out of the vehicle. The officer wrote that he was in front of the truck next to another officer’s patrol car and when the man revved the engine, he thought the man might be trying to pin him between two vehicles. The officer wrote that the suspect then put the vehicle in reverse and fled on U.S. Highway 82 West. Rhonda Annett Floyd was taken into custody and, according to the report, identified by a witness as the woman standing by while the man broke locks off of the machines at the Holiday Inn, Ramada Inn and Days Inn. Floyd, 34, of Waycross, was charged with loitering. As of press time, her companion had not yet been arrested. A screwdriver was recovered at the Holiday Inn and turned in as evidence.

A 47-year-old disabled man reported to a Tifton police officer that he was walking near the intersection of South Central Avenue and 13th Street early Wednesday morning when three unknown black males and one unknown black female attacked him from behind. He told the officer that the men knocked him to the ground and stole $250 from him before they fled on foot. The officer wrote in his report that the man had a small scratch on his left arm and asked to be transported to Tift Regional Medical Center for treatment.

An employee of the Palm Bay Car Wash on North Tift Avenue reported that someone damaged the business’ Pepsi machine by prying it open. The thief stole an unknown amount of money from the machine.

To contact senior reporter Angie Thompson, call 382-4321.