Author: admin

WINNSBORO – Deputy Solicitor Riley Maxwell of the Sixth Judicial Circuit notified the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) on Tuesday that he does not believe the actions of Winnsboro Public Safety Department (WDPS) Officer Peter Jackson, regarding his treatment of a handcuffed prisoner at the Fairfield County Detention Center on Oct. 8, violate South Carolina criminal law.

“Therefore, it is the opinion of the Solicitor’s Office that no criminal charges be filed against Officer Jackson,” Maxwell wrote.

The Voice acquired a video of the incident from the Fairfield County Detention Center through a Freedom of Information Act. The video shows Jackson escorting Andrew Campanelli, 31, under arrest and hands cuffed behind his back, into the intake room at the Detention Center on Oct. 8. An altercation ensued when Jackson asked Campanelli to move to a wall about four feet away.

According to the Sixth Judicial Public Index, Campanelli, who was handcuffed and already under arrest, was charged with assaulting the police officer and resisting arrest. He was released on a $3,000 bond.

While Maxwell stated that it is his opinion that no criminal charges be filed against Jackson, it is not clear whether Maxwell will pursue charges against Campanelli.

Jackson reported that he had arrested Campanelli for throwing two bottles of Mountain Dew at a clerk at the Master Shell convenience store across from Wilson Dodge on S. Congress Street. Both Campanelli and the store clerk told The Voice that Campanelli became angry when the clerk would not accept his driver’s license as ID for the purchase of a pack of cigarettes because the license was expired. Both the clerk and Campanelli told The Voice that Campanelli did not throw the bottles of Mountain Dew but, instead, shoved them off the counter with his arm. The store clerk said one of the bottles hit her and she called the WDPS.

Jackson reported that he spotted Campanelli walking down Congress Street, picked him up and took him back to the store for identification. Jackson reported that he then arrested Campanelli and transferred him to the County Detention Center where the alleged assault took place.

Jackson submitted two incident reports, one right after the incident that included only 4 lines about the convenience store incident and no narrative at all about an altercation between Jackson and Campanelli at the Detention Center and a second one more than a week later.

When The Voice asked WDPS Chief Seibles for a report about the Detention Center incident, Seibles said he could not provide a narrative and also did not make it clear whether such a report exited. However, Seibles also said that he could not release the incident report to The Voice while SLED is investigating the incident.

Seibles told The Voice that it was the officer who was assaulted by Campanelli and that Jackson was not arrested, faced no discipline for the incident and was still on duty.

“I haven’t received any complaints about the incident, so it wouldn’t give me any reason to look at the officer,” Seibles said.

On Wednesday, Oct. 18, WDPS released a second incident report prepared by Jackson that outlined how, when Jackson brought Campanelli into the Detention Center and asked Campanelli to stand against the wall, Campanelli refused.

“I placed my hands on his right arm,” Jackson reported. “At this time, the offender jumped in the air, swinging his head back intentionally, hitting me below my left eye. At this time, I pushed the offender to the wall. The offender hit the wall and it caused a laceration to the left side of his chin. The offender was placed in the cell.”

In the second incident report, Seibles also provided an expanded version of the Mountain Dew incident in which Jackson reported new information – that Campanelli became irate when Jackson picked Campanelli up to take him back to the convenience store for identification.

While Seibles said he did not receive any complaints about the incident from anyone, including the Detention Center or his officers, Fairfield County Deputy Administrator Davis Anderson said he received four reports on the incident as well as a video provided by the Detention Center.

Teresa Lawson, Director of the Center, and Anderson also confirmed last week that the County has banned Jackson from the jail since the Oct. 8 incident.

Seibles conceded that he did receive a no-trespass notice for Jackson from the Center the week of the incident.

In an interview with The Voice, Seibles said he [Seibles] had not wanted to see the Detention Center’s security video of the incident because he did not want to interfere with an investigation SLED is conducting into the incident.

Seibles said last week that he does not plan to view the video until the matter is resolved.

In the Detention Center incident, Campanelli was charged with resisting arrest and assault on a police officer while resisting arrest and released on a $3,000 bond. He was also charged with assault and battery, 3rd degree [a misdemeanor] for the convenience store incident and was released on a $275 bond.

In the second incident report that Jackson prepared last week, his changed the charges for both the convenience store incident and the Detention Center incident to ‘simple assaults.’

Following this story? View related articles: ‘Solicitor: Officer’s actions not lawful,’ Nov. 1, 2017,  ‘SLED investigating assault involving WDPS officer, detainee,’ Oct. 19, 2017 and County bans officer from jail,’ Oct. 26, 2017.  To view an extended version of the detention center video, visit our Facebook page.

BLYTHEWOOD – The deaths of a LongCreek Plantation couple are being investigated after being ruled a murder-suicide by County Coroner Gary Watts.

It was determined that Sarah Marie Alexander, 48, was killed by a gunshot wound to the head about 8 p.m., Thursday at her home in the Colony Club section of LongCreek Plantation. Her husband, Christopher Columbus Alexander, 50, who also lived at the home, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head, Watts said.

Curtis Wilson, Public Information Officer for the Richland County Sheriff’s Department, said a 911 call was received at about 8:30 p.m., and responding officers found the couple’s bodies inside the home.

It was reported that neighbors said the couple had moved to the neighborhood in 2015. Sarah was employed by Dorn VA Hospital as a nurse manager.

The Richland County Sheriff’s Department is continuing to investigate the incident.

WINNSBORO – A Blair woman has been arrested three times in three different counties over the last week for breach of trust in connection with trips she arranged through her travel agency.

Kisha Morgan Chaplin, 47, was first arrested by Fairfield County Sheriff’s Department on Oct. 24 after customers from her travel agency called the Sheriff’s office in September alleging that they had purchased a trip from Chaplin’s agency that was to depart on Sept. 11.

“I made contact with Ms. Chaplin, and she stated that she would give refunds,” said Sheriff’s Investigator Karen Castles. “I suggested a one-week period to have that accomplished before seeking arrest warrants with the one week ending on October 3.

“I received a list of victims and the amounts paid and partial refunds to 9/28/2017 from the family’s trip coordinator,” Castles stated in an incident report. She also discovered an office in Irmo that was listed as the address of Chaplin’s travel agency, A Moment in Time Travel and Tours, but learned from the landlord that the office had been closed for two years.

On the same day, Oct. 24, Chaplin was arrested in Richland County on the same charge – breach of trust. Booked at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center, Chaplin was released on a $15,000 bond.

Then, on Tuesday, Oct. 28, according to the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department, Chaplin was arrested a third time, this time in Lexington County for taking payments of more than $1,300 for a cruise for a Lexington County couple she allegedly did not book.

Chaplin now faces charges in Richland, Fairfield and Lexington Counties

“We are continuing to develop this investigation while working with surrounding law enforcement agencies who are investigating similar incidents,” Fairfield County Sheriff Will Montgomery said. “We want anyone who has information about this investigation, or who has, themselves, possibly been a victim of a similar incident to contact their local law enforcement immediately.”

WINNSBORO – Although Fairfield Memorial Hospital is still losing money, Chief Finance Officer Timothy Mitchell told the FMH Board last week that there are some positive signs in September in that the adjusted operating loss of $156,932 for the month was $194,830 less than operating losses for the month of August.   Average daily gross revenues also ticked up to $45,227 in September from $35,670 in August.

However, while the hospital has cut operating expenses by about $1.1 million in fiscal year 2017, gross patient service revenues were down by almost $2.3 million, twice as much.

ER admissions for the fiscal year, which ended September 30, were almost in line with those from last year – 7,606 in 2017 compared to 7,947 in 2016.  All other outpatient admissions were slightly higher in 2017 – 6,801 compared to 6,635 in 2016.

Whether this trend will continue is uncertain, since Blue Granite Medical Center, which historically has lost money for the hospital, also lost its full-time nurse practitioner in October.  Suzanne Doscher, FMH CEO, reported that the hospital has worked out an arrangement with the two nurse practitioners currently on staff in the emergency room to offer services at Blue Granite Medical Center on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

Doscher also reported that she has met with the management of Eau Claire Medical Center to discuss renting some office space at FMH to Eau Claire.

The Board also went into executive session last Tuesday night in order to discuss and receive legal advice on “proposed contractual matters related to the Providence Hospital Freestanding Emergency Department Project (and) the by-laws of the FMH Board of Trustees.” No vote taken after the Board came out of executive session.

WINNSBORO – Winnsboro Police Chief John Seibles continues to maintain that he has had no complaints from the Fairfield County Detention Center or anyone else about Winnsboro police officer Lt. Peter Jackson in connection with an assault that occurred at the detention center involving Jackson and Andrew Campanelli, 31, a detainee Jackson arrested and brought to the jail on Oct. 8 for allegedly throwing a bottle of Mountain Dew at a convenience store clerk.

Teresa Lawson, Director of the Center, and Deputy County Administrator Davis Anderson confirmed on Monday that the County has banned Jackson from the jail since the Oct. 8 incident.

Seibles said he did receive a no-trespass notice for Jackson from the Center the week of the incident.

In an interview last week with The Voice, Seibles said Jackson had been assaulted by Campanelli and that he [Seibles] had not wanted to see the security film of the incident because he did not want to interfere with an investigation SLED is conducting into the incident.

Seibles said on Monday that he does not plan to view the video until the matter is resolved.

In the Detention Center incident, Campanelli was charged with resisting arrest and assault on a police officer while resisting arrest and released on a $3,000 bond. He was also charged with assault and battery, 3rd degree [a misdemeanor] for the convenience store incident and was released on a $275 bond. The Voice has submitted a Freedom of Information request to the County for a copy of the video of the Detention Center incident and all reports submitted to the County by the Detention Center that are related to the incident. The Voice has also requested a copy of the video of the convenience store incident.

The Detention Center incident is being investigated by SLED.