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Tag: Fairfield County Sheriff’s Department

  • Cambio riot leads to jailing of 7 teens

    WINNSBORO – In what was described in a sheriff’s report as a riot at Cambio Academy in Greenbrier last week, seven teenage girls were arrested.

    After receiving a call from the Academy shortly before 6:30 a.m., Sunday morning, that 20 teenage girls were assaulting a staff member, Fairfield County Sheriff’s deputies, assisted by the S.C. Highway Patrol, arrived at the facility to find about 15 girls in the side yard of the facility surrounding the victim who was standing in front of one of the assailants, according to sheriff’s deputies.

    As the officers tried to clear the area and escort the girls back inside the building, the incident report states that the teenagers continued to fight and yell. After several attempts to return the group to their rooms, officers reported that two of the girls pushed past the officers and were detained.

    EMS transported two of the offenders to Providence Emergency Room in Winnsboro and then to FCDC. Five other offenders were arrested and transported to DJJ in Columbia.

    There was no information about the condition of the victim.

    All seven girls were charged with disorderly conduct.

    Cambio Academy is a residential treatment center on Greenbrier-Mossy Dale Road for troubled teens ages 13 – 18.

  • Teen girl missing from Cambio Academy

    GREENBRIER – A 16-year-old female with black hair and brown eyes is missing from the Cambio Academy, according to the Fairfield County Sheriff’s office. Officers say the teen ran away from the Academy and was last seen wearing blue jeans and Timberland boots. She is about 5’6” and weighs about 120 lbs.

    Call the Sheriff’s office at 365-4141 if you see her or have information about her whereabouts.

  • Ridgeway man charged with assault and battery

    WINNSBORO – A Ridgeway man has been arrested and charged with assault and battery on Monday, April 29.

    Wayne

    Robert Wayne, 30, was taken into custody after he reportedly assaulted and held a Ridgeway resident against his will in a residence on Longtown Road. The incident occurred at approximately 1:45 on Monday afternoon.

    Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office (FCSO) deputies reported that an assault had occurred and that the victim was being held against his will at this residence while a suspect was armed with a firearm and barricaded inside of the same residence.

    Due to the nature of the information received, Sheriff Montgomery said he activated the FCSO Special Response Team in an effort to minimize risks to the victim, suspect, and responding officers while this incident was being resolved.

    Officers secured the area to contain any potential threats and to protect other residents in that area. Deputies were then able to secure all persons inside of the residence without any further incident and the victim was provided with medical treatment.

    Wayne was transported to the Fairfield County Detention Center.

  • Winnsboro man arrested in shooting

    WINNSBORO – Fairfield County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to a shooting incident in the Birch Street area of Winnsboro at approximately 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday evening.

    Wright

    Upon arrival, deputies located a victim with a wound to the neck. The victim was transported by EMS to the hospital.

    Witnesses identified Steve A. Wright, 54, as the suspect in the shooting. Wright was seen shooting a gun into a crowd where the victim was struck, and then returning to his house at 210 Birch St.

    Responding deputies attempted to contact Wright at his residence. After receiving no response, deputies entered Wright’s home and took him into custody, according to Major Brad Douglas.

    Wright, who is being held at the Fairfield County Detention Center, has been charged with Attempted Murder and Possession of a Deadly Weapon during a Violent Crime.

    According to Sheriff Will Montgomery, there were no other injuries in the shooting, and the victim is expected to fully recover.

    “I want to thank the residents in that area for their cooperation with our deputies and their patience while we dealt with this incident,” Sheriff Montgomery said. “I commend the professionalism of our deputies and their quick response to bring this situation to an end without any more injuries.”

    The Voice will update this story as more information is made available.

  • HVAC heists on the rise at churches

    WINNSBORO – Thefts of HVAC units from area churches are on the rise, according to Major Brad Douglas of the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office.

    Many of these thefts have occurred at churches in rural areas of the county. The Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office is supplementing patrol shifts to increase security checks of the county’s 140 churches throughout the day and night, Douglas said in a statement released Friday.

    “We are asking the public to be very vigilant of church facilities,” Douglas said. “If you see any suspicious persons and/or vehicles at any time at churches, contact the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office at 803-635-5511 or call 911 if there is reason to think a crime is in progress.

    “We consider our churches to be very important community partners, and we want to prevent any more of these thefts from occurring,” Sheriff Will Montgomery said.

    “Additionally, we want to identify any suspects in these crimes. We ask that everyone pay careful attention to churches when they travel past them. If any suspicious activity is observed, call 803-635-4141.”

  • Martin: RW deputy schedule works well

    RIDGEWAY – An opponent from the get-go of Council’s decision to contract with the Fairfield County Sheriff for law enforcement in Ridgeway, Councilwoman Angela Harrison asked for an update on the new arrangement during last week’s Town Council meeting.

    “I’d like to see a monthly schedule [of Deputy Sheriffs’ work assignments. When we met in December, you said you’d come back with an adjusted schedule to kind of mix things up each month,” Harrison said, addressing Councilman Dan Martin. “Also, before, we were getting reports on incidents and things that were happening in town, and the number of tickets being written. I know that you and the mayor said tickets are being written, so I would like to see some kind of documentation on that.”

    “We did talk about a staggered schedule for the deputies in the town,” Martin said. “When we contracted for 24-hour police protection for the town, it was to have security for the town. So that schedule that I forwarded Major Bradley could change weekly, change monthly. It’s not out there for general knowledge. They [deputies] are here when we ask them to be here. Crime is not scheduled. They’ve been very good about being here,” Martin said.

    “I know the schedule, Vivian (Case, town clerk) knows the schedule, Heath (Cookendorfer, mayor) knows the schedule. Quite frankly, I don’t think anyone needs to know the schedule beyond that.  I don’t think you need to know the schedule,” Martin added. He went on to say that putting those things on Facebook lets people know the deputies’ schedules.

    “That would compromise the security for the town,” Martin said.

    “I’m sorry,” Harrison broke in, “I’m part of the ‘we’.”

    “As for the tickets,” Martin continued, “They do write tickets. They pulled someone in front of my house yesterday,” he said. “I talked to Major Bradley and they know what’s being done in Ridgeway 24/7.

    “I don’t believe in micromanaging their job,” Martin said. “They are doing their job. The Sheriff can allocate the deputies anywhere in town. It’s a misuse of resources to not put them where they’re needed.”

    Martin said the Sheriff asked him if the Town had had any complaints about the [deputies’] service in the town.

    “We have not had one complaint, here, officially at Town Hall” Martin said. “He [the sheriff], in turn, has not had a single complaint from a Ridgeway resident. The deputies are here, they are on duty, they are writing tickets. And, no, there is not a [schedule] list.”

    “So what I’m hearing is that I’m not a part of ‘we,’” Harrison said. “And secondly my complaint about speeding down my road with my child riding her bike doesn’t count. My complaint to this council about the speeders down our road, doesn’t count. So as a resident, I’m not counted with my voice,” Harrison said.

    “There have been no official complaints,” Martin said.

    Councilman Rufus Jones said he didn’t think the town government needed to start telling Sheriff Montgomery how to run his department.

    In other business, council voted 4-0 to hire as an as-needed town attorney with no retainer fee. Councilman Donald Prioleau was not present.

    Council also voted 4-0 to award $1,000 for the second annual yarn bombing of downtown Ridgeway to help promote the 13th annual Arts on the Ridge event which is scheduled for May 4.

    A unanimous vote awarded MIKA Contracting the bid to repair the building at 160 South Palmer Street that previously housed the Ridgeway Police Department.  MIKA’s bid of $4,450 is contingent on a meeting with Councilmen Dan Martin and Rufus Jones to confirm the company is sufficiently licensed and insured. While there was some discussion questioning where the money would come from to pay for the work, no decision was made other than that the repairs are necessary.

    The three other bids included First Class Construction ($4,715.00), Southern Renovation & Construction ($7,003.62) and Taylor Maid ($35,400).

    Three bids for construction of four public restrooms in the building at 128 South Palmer Street (behind Olde Town Hall restaurant) all exceeded the $35,000 council allocated for the project from Hospitality funds. The three bids were submitted by Taylor Maid ($197,000), Southern Renovation & Construction ($51,848.55) and Catalyst Construction ($215,150).

    Council voted unanimously to rebid the project for only two handicap restrooms instead of two handicap and two regular restrooms.

    Following the public session, Council went into executive session to discuss a contractual matter regarding Civil Engineering of Columbia.

  • Dogs attack, maul Winnsboro man

    WINNSBORO – A Winnsboro man was mauled Saturday by two dogs who were reportedly running loose on the former Mack Truck property off U. S. Highway 321 about 7 a.m. on Friday.

    A dispatcher notified Sheriff’s deputies that a man was on the ground with two dogs on top of him and another man was also on the ground.

    When deputies arrived, one man was trying to control a Rottweiler while another Rottweiler was being restrained on a leash by a third person in a car.

    John Emory Dinkins, Jr., 45, was lying on the ground with what deputies described as puncture wounds and deep bite marks where the skin was missing from his head, neck, back, both arms and both legs.

    EMS arrived and transported Dinkins to Palmetto Richland.

    Before he was transported, Dinkins reportedly told officers that he was walking in the north bound lane on U.S. Highway 321, going north, then crossed over to the south bound lane where some friends were to pick him up.

    Dinkins said that when he got almost in front of the Mack Truck building, he saw two dogs running towards him.

    He said someone was calling for the dogs to stop, but they kept coming and attacked him just south of the entrance to the plant, on the shoulder of the road. Dinkins said the dogs took him to the ground and began biting him. He said he tried to fight them off, but couldn’t, the report stated.

    Deputies on scene called the Fairfield County Animal Control who took the dogs to the county’s animal shelter.

    The dogs’ owner, Kenneth Floyd Anderson, 44, reported that he had brought the dogs to the property to exercise them. Anderson told deputies a different version, that Dinkins had approached him, causing the dogs to attack Dinkins, according to the report.

    As Anderson was trying to pull the dogs off and Dinkins was trying to fight them off, a passer-by came to their rescue and helped restrain the dogs, the report stated.

    The following day, deputies arrested Anderson and charged him with Allowing Dogs to Run At Large.

    Anderson was released on a $158.75 personal recognizance bond.

  • Update: Winnsboro man kills self after SLED arrives

    WINNSBORO – As the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Department assisted the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) with serving fraud warrants on a Fairfield County man, deputies say the man put a gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger.

    John Wayne McCord, 64, who lived near the intersection of Highway 321 and Broom Mill Road in Fairfield County, died from a self-inflicted gunshot at his home shortly after 1 p.m., Saturday, March 22, Fairfield County officials report.

    As SLED officers arrived at two homes behind a brick wall in the Candlewood section of Fairfield County, they stated that they saw a man fitting McCord’s description back a white Ford pickup truck from one of the houses to the other, then go inside.

    “As we pulled into the yard and exited our vehicles, a female came out of the house, stating that, ‘John is inside,’” a Sheriff’s investigator reported.

    When a SLED agent called for the man to come outside, the report states, the man walked down a hallway in the house to another room, slamming the door shut. Officers report they broke through the door and found McCord sitting on a sofa with a shotgun under his chin.

    A short time after a SLED agent reportedly tried to convince McCord that the warrants “weren’t that bad,” McCord pulled the trigger, shooting himself in the head, the Sheriff’s report stated.

    After EMS arrived, law enforcement officials walked to the other house and spoke with McCord’s wife and notified the coroner.

    Fairfield County man dies from self-inflicted gunshot wound

    WINNSBORO – Shortly after 1 p.m. today, a black male reportedly died from a self-inflicted gunshot at a home in the Candlewood area of the county. The incident occurred near the intersection of  Hwy 321 and Broom Hill Road when SLED investigators came to the man’s home to question him, according to Fairfield County Sheriff Will Montgomery whose office is assisting SLED in the investigation. The man died at the scene.

    More information will be posted when it is available.

    03/22/2019 at 8:06 pm

  • Sheriff: Church burglaries on rise

    WINNSBORO – A recent rash of burglaries in vehicles parked in church parking lots during worship services has prompted Fairfield County Sheriff Will Montgomery to issue an advisory encouraging citizens and church members to be vigilant for suspicious activity on church properties in the county.

    Someone burglarized a vehicle at a church in the Jenkinsville community on Sunday, March 10, stealing money and a pocketbook containing bank cards, the Sheriff’s office reported. The subject used the bank cards a short time later at the Dollar General in the Blair area.

    Similar thefts also occurred in Lancaster County that same morning and are believed to have been committed by the same person, the Sheriff said. Surveillance cameras captured images of the suspect and his vehicle, believed to be a dark, possibly blue, Chevrolet Impala.

    Catalytic converters (exhaust system parts) have also been taken from church vans/buses parked at several churches in Fairfield County in the past few weeks.

    Sheriff Montgomery said he does not know if the suspect is involved with these thefts.

    “We encourage everyone to be extra vigilant for suspicious activity at area churches and to contact the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office at 803-635-4141 if any suspicious activity is observed,” Montgomery said. “We also ask that anyone who recognizes the individual, or vehicle to contact us.”

  • Update: Arrest made in Mekra Lang shooting

    FAIRFIELD COUNTY –Jazzmine K. Thompson, 21, of Ranch Rd., Columbia has been arrested for a shooting incident that occurred at Mekra Lang North America on Tuesday, Mar. 5.

    Thompson, a former temporary employee at Mekra Lang, was arrested Tuesday evening in Richland County and is being held at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center. Thompson will be transferred to Fairfield County and charged with two counts of attempted murder, possession of a deadly weapon during a violent crime and discharging a firearm into a building.

    Mekra Lang North America is located at 101 Tillesen Blvd. in the Ridgeway area of Fairfield County. No mugshot is available for Thompson at this time.

    Sheriff investigates shooting at Mekra Lang

    FAIRFIELD COUNTY (3/5/19)– The Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a shooting incident that took place this morning outside of Mekra Lang North America, located at 101 Tillesen Blvd in the Ridgeway area of Fairfield County.

    “This is still a very active investigation,” said Sheriff Will Montgomery. “We are limited on the information that we can release at this time.”

    No injuries related to the incident were reported, and it is believed that the shooter left the area in a vehicle. Deputies are still working to positively identify the shooter.

    The Voice will update this story as more information is made available.