Veteran, father of 4 killed by man wtih criminal past, media silent

Well, it’s happened again. This time the victim is a veteran who served in the Marines and worked as a code enforcement officer in Georgia.
Charles “Chip” Case was murdered last week by a man with a long list of crimes.
 And would you know it, the mainstream media is dead silent.
 The post made on Facebook by Case’s step-mother, Virginia, says it all. She simply states: “My previous son.” 

 According to a report in the August Chronicle on August 23, the Augusta community continued to reel as police arrested the man charged with homicide in the Thursday slaying of city code enforcement officer and retired Marine Charles “Chip” Case. 

 A team of law enforcement officers located and arrested Smitty Oliver Melton, 65, in Aiken County on Thursday afternoon, and he was awaiting extradition to Richmond County on Friday. 

He faces charges of murder and possessing a weapon in the commission of a crime. 

 Melton mug shot According to reports, Chip Case went to Melton’s home to post a “condemned” sign on the house. Having placed the sign on the house, Case returned to his truck where he was confronted by Melton who shot him dead. Case served nearly 20 years in the Marine Corps before retiring. Besides being condemned, Melton’s house is the target of foreclosure by the Richmond County tax commissioner for not paying property taxes for several years.

 Melton has a long arrest record in Richmond and Aiken counties. 

The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office had 11 different mug shots from each time he was arrested. In the late 1990s, Melton was twice charged with aggravated assault, but neither case appeared to result in a criminal sentence. In 2012, he was indicted for possession of hydrocodone and driving without a license and was sentenced to probation. Most of his other charges were for traffic violations. In Aiken County, Melton was charged several times with driving without a license and once for possessing a weapon.