A man trashed his pizza restaurant and ice cream shop near Atlanta to fake a racially motivated burglary so he could file an insurance claim, police said. Gwinnett County police officers responded just before 9:30 p.m. Wednesday after a 911 call reporting a man damaging the businesses, according to a Friday news release. The caller said the man was driving a black Chevrolet Silverado without a license plate. Officers stopped a truck matching that description as it was leaving the shopping center and noticed televisions attached to brackets with damaged drywall in the back, the release says. They learned the driver, 31-year-old Edawn Louis Coughman, owned the businesses.
The military developed drones to spy on enemies and take out terrorists, but now some people are finding domestic uses for the tiny robotic aircraft.
Realtors are beginning to use them to check on properties from the air.
Realtors like Stephen Shapiro of Westside Estate Agency who is trying to sell an enormous, well-appointed estate in the Holmby Hills. Frank Sinatra once lived there on 2.3 acres.
“When I was presented with this opportunity, I saw an entirely new perspective,” he said.
He admitted that selling a $23 million house is a challenge.
One could post photos online or even hire a helicopter to fly over the place, but the noise would annoy neighbors.
So in order to present the estate from every angle, he hired the “hecti-copter” –a drone that can fly over the property.
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These pilotless aircraft have revolutionized warfare and now, they are also revolutionizing the presentation of high-end properties.
Photographer Daniel Garate doesn’t have a pilot’s license, but he does fly remotely to take the pictures.
He attached a digital camera to a mount beneath the drone’s blades.
It gives realtors and clients a bird’s eye view of the property as it floats above and through a courtyard.
Garate admitted his invention looks strange, but he added the neighbors are not likely to complain when it flies overhead. It is as noisy, he said, as a leaf blower.
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