Tag: Fairfield County Sheriff

An alert neighbor on Bobwhite Drive in Winnsboro foiled an attempted motor vehicle theft last week and exposed what Fairfield County Sheriff’s investigators are calling an up-and-coming trend.

At 6:46 p.m. on Oct. 10, a 57-year-old man living in the 300 block of Bobwhite Drive heard what sounded like a large truck backing up outside his home. When he stepped outside to investigate, he saw a tow truck backing into his neighbor’s yard across the street, preparing to haul away his neighbor’s car. When he approached the truck, the driver told him that the car had been sold to someone living at Winnsboro Arms Apartments and the new owner was having the vehicle towed to him there.

But the 57-year-old neighbor was not just a neighbor of the potential victim, he was also her cousin and, according to the incident report, he knew his cousin had not sold her car and told the tow truck driver to leave the property. Before the driver left, the neighbor noted the name on the side of the truck: Joe’s Truck and Auto Repair, out of Chester. He was also able to get a name from the driver: Kenny Mac, although Sheriff’s investigators doubt this is his real name.

The Sheriff’s Office said wrecker services that appear legitimate, pulling into yards and stealing vehicles has become a recent trend, both in Fairfield and surrounding counties. In recent weeks, the Sheriff’s Office said, they have received calls from the Newberry County Sheriff’s Office following up on tow trucks bearing markings identifying them as Fairfield County companies that have stolen cars from Newberry County homes. None of them have been legitimate towing companies, the Sheriff’s Office said.

“We are increasing our awareness and taking a closer look at wrecker companies,” Capt. Brad Douglas said. “Of course, all of our guys know all of our local wrecking companies. We are hoping neighbors can observe stuff like this and help us make an arrest.”

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Red Hill Church Road, 100 block, between 4:45 and 4:50 a.m. Aug. 12. Someone stole two air conditioning units worth $4,400 from a church.

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Highway 215 S., 9900 block, between 5 and 6:30 p.m. Aug. 8. Someone stole a water heater and an air conditioning unit worth $4,025 from outside a home.

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Carolina Drive, 300 block, between 6 and 6:28 p.m. Aug. 9. Someone stole stereo equipment of undetermined value from an unlocked car parked outside a home.

Highway 21 S., 1900 block, between 5:42 and 7:35 p.m. Aug. 10. Someone broke into a home and stole computer equipment and other items worth $4,755. Someone also stole a 2001 Mercury Grand Marquis worth $5,000 from outside the home.

Westshore Drive, 700 block, between 2:30 and 3:09 p.m. Aug. 12. Someone broke into a shed outside a home and stole a lawn mower and other items worth $600.

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Walnut Street, 100 block, between 6 p.m. Aug. 8 and 6:30 a.m. Aug. 9. Someone stole tools and other items worth $2,780 from a work truck parked outside a home.

Fifth Street, 600 block, between 2:30 and 4 p.m. Aug. 9. Someone stole an assault rifle worth $300 from a home.

Highway 321 Bypass, 1300 block, between 7:46 and 8 p.m. Aug. 9. Someone stole an air conditioning unit worth $3,000 from outside a restaurant.

River Road, 2300 block, between 8:06 and 8:15 a.m. Aug. 12. Someone stole a four-wheeler of undetermined make and model worth $300 from a wooded area near a home.

Bundrick Road, 600 block, between 8:38 p.m. Aug. 12 and 8:50 p.m. Aug. 12. Someone stole prescription medications worth $150 from a home.

The ‘Eye in the Sky’ doesn’t lie, and last week that ‘Eye’ led Fairfield County Sheriff’s investigators to a field of some very mature – and valuable – marijuana plants.

A State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) helicopter on patrol over southern Fairfield County on the afternoon of Aug. 2 spotted the field on Cowhorn Road, just off Highway 321 S. near the Richland County line. Agents in the helicopter also spotted someone in the field and put the call out to the Sheriff’s Office. By the time the bloodhounds were deployed and a perimeter established, the suspect had made their escape, but what that individual left behind kept agents busy for the rest of the afternoon.

The Sheriff’s Office said their agents cleared 3 acres of marijuana, totaling 631 plants with an estimated street value of $2,000 each. That adds up to more than $1.2 million in marijuana eradicated in a single afternoon.

The plants were in an advanced stage of maturity, the Sheriff’s Office said, with an average estimated height of 8 to 10 feet. The field bore many of the same characteristics of a field wiped out by a multi-county task force in mid-July near Highway 200 and I-77, the Sheriff’s Office said, but they did not locate any concrete evidence in the Aug. 2 raid to definitively link the two operations.

It may not be enough to categorize it as an epidemic just yet, but investigators with the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office have been kept busy over the last week by a string of copper thieves targeting local churches.

“Over the last week, we’ve had three churches hit, all off Highway 321,” Capt. Brad Douglas said. “Churches are, unfortunately, an easy target. They’re unoccupied most of the time.”

Between July 26 and Aug. 1, copper thieves dismantled air conditioning units outside churches between White Oak and just south of the airport, making off with an estimated $17,000 in copper tubing. Their first target: St. John AME at 4774 Highway 321 N. Deputies were called to the church July 26 where a member there had found the air conditioning unit taken apart and copper worth approximately $9,000 taken. The church had been idle since the previous Sunday, July 22, according to the incident report.

Copper bandits had a narrow window of opportunity during their next strike, at Weeping Mary Church at 7109 Highway 321 N. A security check at 11 p.m. July 30 by a deputy on patrol in the area found the church to be locked down tight and the property unmolested. The following day, however, just after 4 p.m., deputies were called to the church after three of the air conditioning units outside the building had been stripped of $6,000 in copper parts.

St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, at Highway 321 Bypass N., was the most recent victim in this rash of thefts. Investigators called to the scene there found that between 7 p.m. July 28 and 1:35 p.m. Aug. 1, thieves had ripped the top off an air conditioning unit and had stolen copper elements worth $2,000.

Although tire tracks were found at one of the crime scenes, forensic evidence is often difficult to come by in cases of copper theft, the Sheriff’s Office said. The very nature of the crime requires the thieves to wear gloves, and fingerprints are rarely left behind. Tracing stolen parts is also next to impossible. Copper tubes and coils, essentially, all look the same and bear no identifying marks or numbers. With no hard evidence, the crimes have not been positively connected; but given the proximity of the thefts, the Sheriff’s Office said they suspect a link.

“Copper thefts are high everywhere,” Douglas said. “But, given the time frame and the targets and the area, we’re probably looking at the same person or group of people.”

A new state law passed this year was designed to make the selling of stolen scrap metals more difficult, but the Sheriff’s Office said they have not seen a real decline in cases like these. The law has, however, helped law enforcement identify people selling scrap metals to recycling centers.

Meanwhile, the Sheriff’s Office is asking the community to be on alert for suspicious activity near susceptible target areas, such as churches.

A multi-agency operation targeting marijuana grow operations in four counties located and eliminated more than 3,500 marijuana plants from Fairfield County last week.

According to the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office, agents from their office were joined by forces from the Chester County Sheriff’s Office, Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office, York County Drug Enforcement Unit, S.C. Law Enforcement Division (SLED), S.C. Department of Natural Resources, S.C. Forestry Commission, S.C. National Guard and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Midlands HIDTA Group in an operation that covered Fairfield, Chester, Lancaster and York counties from July 17 – 19.

During the operation, officers located and destroyed a marijuana field containing more than 3,500 marijuana plants near the area of I-77 and Highway 200 in Fairfield County. Evidence suggests that individuals cultivating these plants were living, at least part-time, in the fields. No arrests have been made at this time, the Sheriff’s Office said, and no connection has been made between this operation and local dealers. However, officers are continuing this investigation and are following several leads.

“This four-county area is a prime location for these kinds of operations,” Capt. Brad Douglas of the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office said. “These are rural areas, away from any houses, which allows operators to deploy people and supplies without being seen by neighbors.”

Douglas said the operation eradicated last week was 1- to 2-acres in size and contained plants in an advanced stage of maturity.

A Winnsboro man was arrested earlier this month and charged with manufacturing marijuana after investigators with the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office discovered six marijuana plants on his property on Douglas Road.

According to an incident report from the Sheriff’s Office, Troy Richard Moore, 45, of 1076 Douglas Road was apprehended June 13 after the Sheriff’s Office and agents from the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) raided the property and found the plants. Moore was taken into custody and transported to the Fairfield County Detention Center. The plants were later destroyed.

“Marijuana eradication is something we concentrate on every spring and summer,” said Capt. Brad Douglas of the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office. “Fairfield County is a very rural area and is naturally conducive to marijuana cultivation. It’s something the Sheriff takes very seriously and we dedicate some time to it every spring and summer.”

Douglas added that the Douglas Road raid was the byproduct of a search for a much larger grow operation.

Investigators with the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office have charged a Columbia juvenile and two adults in a rash of break-ins that occurred in the county earlier this month.

In addition to the 16-year-old juvenile, investigators arrested Darius Walker, 18, of Saddle Trail Road in Columbia, and Calvin Rydriell Graham, 17, of Sanota Court in Columbia. All three were arrested last week and have been charged with burglary.

The string of break-ins all took place June 6 and netted robbers more than $6,000 in goods, beginning with a home in the 5600 block of Highway 215 in Jenkinsville. Investigators arriving there at 11:35 a.m. found the back door of the home had been kicked in, leaving a shoe print on the door, and two flat-screen televisions worth $650 stolen.

Twenty minutes later, investigators were called to a home in the 5800 block of Reservoir Road in Winnsboro, which had been broken into through the garage. Homeowners told the Sheriff’s Office that a flat-screen television worth $600 had been stolen from the home. A muddy shoe print was located and photographed on the ground outside the rear garage door, and another near the garage opening.

Investigators were then dispatched to a home in the 200 block of Bowsan Lane in Winnsboro at 5:18 p.m. Suspects had broken into the back door of the home and stole a video camera worth $400 as well as four shotguns and six rifles worth $4,500.

On June 20, Fairfield County investigators were invited to the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center in Richland County to interview a juvenile who had been picked up by City of Columbia police during a traffic stop in June 15. During that traffic stop, police found one of the missing shotguns in the back seat of the car.

“Our investigators interviewed (the juvenile) and he talked,” said Captain Brad Douglas of the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office. “It was just some good interviewing techniques that broke the case.”

The 16-year-old male suspect reportedly admitted to participating in the three Fairfield County break-ins and implicated Walker and Graham. The juvenile also led investigators to an abandoned home in Columbia, underneath which the other stolen firearms were found. The Sheriff’s Office said they suspect the three are part of a larger ring of burglars operating out of Columbia.