Blythewood Online 691

Tag: Fairfield County Sheriff’s Department

  • All district schools to get SROs

    County will provide vehicles and uniforms

    WINNSBORO – Ridgeway Police Chief Christopher Culp has been the subject of at least 14 complaints from Ridgeway residents and businesses in the past 12 months, according to documents obtained by The Voice. Those complaints recently almost cost him his job.

    One of the complaints, though – that Culp doubles as the de facto school resource officer (SRO) at Geiger Elementary School although he is not certified to do so – will likely be mitigated through action by the Fairfield County School District.

    Superintendent Dr. J.R. Green and Board Chairman William Frick both told The Voice this week that the District’s recently approved budget includes funding for additional SROs.

    “We did budget for additional SROs to go into the elementary schools for the upcoming school year,” Frick said. “That was already in the budget that was approved at the last meeting, so we are looking forward to that.”

    While the the District already provides SROs for the high school and middle schools. Green said the district started feeling the need to add SROs to the five elementary school after the Florida shooting incident.

    “We decided it would be prudent to expand our SRO program to include the elementary schools as well,” Green said. “Obviously, we are committed to providing the safest environment we can as a district. This is just one added step to improving on the environment that we provide students.”

    Frick went on to say that the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office is hiring for those positions.

    The budget that passed includes $325,000 for five new school resource officers, which works out to about $65,000 per officer. There was no mention during budget deliberations, though, exactly where those officers would be assigned.

    Green has previously said the funding covers the officers’ salaries and benefits, while Fairfield County would cover vehicle, equipment and training costs.

    “Our plan is to have resource officers in place by the fall of this year,” Green said Tuesday. “We’re providing resource officers to our elementary schools. That’s our plan provided we have officers available.”

  • Church burglary suspect nabbed

    WINNSBORO – An individual has been identified as a suspect in several burglaries of churches in the Blair and Jenkinsville areas of Fairfield County over the weekend. Investigators with the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office have obtained arrest warrants for Terrance Chisolm, 38, of Aiken, SC, for multiple counts of burglary.

    Chisolm is currently in the Newberry County Detention Center. This past holiday weekend, five incidents, three in Blair and two in Jenkinsville, are believed to be related to incidents that occurred in Newberry County several weeks ago.

    In Blair, the Sheriff’s Office responded to burglary/breaking and entering at Zion Hopewell  Church, Salem Presbyterian Church and Little River United Presbyterian Church. Burglaries in Jenkinsville included Little River Baptist Church and White Hall AME Church.

    Besides damage to the church buildings including broken windows and doors, the churches were robbed of speaker systems, televisions, audio/visual recording equipment and other electronics as well as boxes of food items.

    Fairfield County Sheriff Will Montgomery encouraged all citizens be vigilant and immediately report any suspicious activity at churches (vehicles at churches late at night, vehicles attempting to conceal themselves at or near churches, etc.) to the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office, 803-635-4141.

    Note: The Voice was not able to acquire Chisolm’s mugshot by the press deadline. 

  • Moonshine bust nets Blythewood man

    WINNSBORO – While conducting a lawful search warrant at about 6 p.m., May 8, at a residence on West College Street in Winnsboro, officers from the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Narcotics Unit, the Winnsboro Department of Public Safety and the Chester County Sheriff’s Narcotics Unit, encountered numerous subjects in the front yard of the residence and discovered 25 mason jars of liquid believed to be moonshine inside the house, the incident report states. It was also reported that officers found substances believed to be cocaine and marijuana in a vehicle on the property registered to Derrick Jones, 41, of Blythewood.

    Jones

    Upon the officers’ arrival, one of the subjects, Donald Glenn, Jr. who, it turned out, is on federal probation/supervision for a previous arrest, immediately bolted from the location, but was captured in the next block, detained, handcuffed and taken back to the residence.

    All the other subjects were also handcuffed and secured by perimeter units in the front yard. A search team along with a K-9 officer reportedly entered the residence where the K-9 made several narcotic alerts.

    Outside the residence, Jones, who had been seated at a picnic table, still handcuffed and under legal confinement, also bolted from the property, the report states. While officers were unable to catch or locate Jones, he contacted officers about 11:30 that evening and made arrangements to turn himself in.

    Jones was arrested and charged with trafficking cocaine over 10 grams and common law escape and transported to the Fairfield County Detention Center. Jones was released on $25,000 bond for drug trafficking and $5,000 bond for escape. According to the report, Glenn was turned over to federal authorities.

  • Missing person in Ridgeway

    Wise

    RIDGEWAY – On Monday, April 30, 2018, at approximately 5:00 PM, Randolph Wise walked away from his residence, 132 Jujube Drive, in the Ridgeway area near the Ridgeway Motel. Wise has several medical issues, including seizures and has a history of falling/tripping. He also may have mental impairment and may be acting irrationally.

    Wise was last seen wearing a black long-sleeve pullover, blue jeans, and black Nike shoes with a green Nike “check.”

    If you see Mr. Wise or have information about him, please contact the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office (803-635-4141) immediately.

  • Protect & Serve

    WINNSBORO – Fairfield County Sheriff Will Montgomery congratulates Deputy Oren Gadson on being promoted to Corporal. Gadson has worked in law enforcement for 24 years.

  • Woman, 19, arrested for ill treatment of animals

    WINNSBORO – When a Fairfield County Sheriff’s Deputy responded to a call on Monday, March 2 in reference to an injured dog at a home on Cherry Road, a person at the home, Erica Beasley, 19, stated that someone had stolen one of her five dogs and injured two of them.

    Beasley

    Beasley said she last saw her all-white pit bull puppy and the two injured dogs about 4:30 p.m. on March 1. She said the dogs had no injuries at that time, the incident report stated.

    Beasley then showed the deputy a cut zip tie and a cut electrical wire that she said had been used to hold the cages together. She reportedly told the deputy that someone had cut them off the cages and that a friend had advised her the missing puppy had been spotted at a residence in the neighborhood.

    The deputy noticed a brown and white female pit bull lying on the ground behind a vehicle with several lacerations and dried blood on her leg, blood dripping from under her neck and blood mixed with saliva dripping from the dog’s mouth. The report stated that the dog could not move.

    The deputy reported that he explained to Beasley that she could surrender the dog for medical treatment and later get the dog back once all expenses were paid, but that if the dog did not receive medical treatment, Beasley would be charged with animal cruelty. Beasley first hesitated, saying she was going to call someone to take her to get medical treatment for the dog, but finally signed the dog over to animal control, according to the report.

    When animal control picked the dog up, the deputy said he observed brown liquid coming from a laceration on the back of the dog’s left leg.

    Another dog, a grey and white pit bull, was then observed by the deputy to also have injuries. Its mouth was red and there were injuries to its face, the report stated.

    At that point, a man approached the deputy and Beasley to say he had found a white put bull running around in the neighborhood and took him in. The man then returned the pit bull to the Cherry Road residence according to the report. The deputy reported that the dog had small lacerations under his neck but no major injuries.

    The deputy said he noticed white hair around the bent chain link fence in the yard. He advised Beasley that if the veterinarian determined that the dogs were injured prior to March 1, that a warrant would be issued for her arrest.

    The deputy stated that, before leaving two other uninjured pit bulls and the white pit bull in Beasley’s care, he observed that none of the dogs had clean drinking water.

    According to the incident report, the veterinarian assistant stated that the injuries to the two dogs picked up appeared to have occurred three to five days earlier.

    “When they were brought in, the dogs were undernourished, underweight and upon examination, our veterinarian, Dr. Chappell, determined that the injuries to the dogs were bite injuries. They were several days old and were infected,” Fairfield County Animal Control Director Bob Innes said.

    Beasley was arrested on April 3 and charged with ill treatment to animals, 1st offense, a misdemeanor. She was released on $1,200 bond. The two dogs will be held at the Fairfield County Animal Shelter until Beasley’s court date, Innes said.

  • Woman, 31, charged with assaulting relative

    WINNSBORO – The first call came in to dispatch about 1:30 a.m. on March 31.

    “It happened at Washington Highlite Club, Sharonda Richards cut Charlene Sanders with blade, driving blue Honda to FMH,” the caller stated.

    The second call came in about 20 minutes later from Sharonda Richards. She said there was a fight at the club and requested a deputy meet her at her residence.

    Richards

    Charlene Monique Sanders, 28, told the responding officer when he arrived at Fairfield Memorial Hospital (FMH) that she was at the Washington Highlite Club on Jackson Creek Road when Sharonda Richards bumped into her inside the club. Sanders said, according to the report, that the two women began to argue, the altercation subsequently moved outside where they began to fight and Richards “pulled a knife and started slashing her [Sanders] in the face and arm.”

    Sanders said blood began to run down her face and that she was transported by two friends to FMH where she was treated for a deep laceration from over her left eye to her left ear and injuries to her right hand and wrist, the report stated.

    Sanders reportedly told the deputy that she and the defendant are relatives and that the incident was an ongoing occurrence precipitated by the two women dating the same man. That man was also one of the two people who transported Sanders to the hospital, the report stated, and who remained with her while she was being treated.

    At the same time, the defendant, Richards, 31, was being treated for a swollen right eye at Richland Memorial Hospital in Columbia and was reported to be sending threatening text messages to the man Sanders had told the deputy both were dating and who was with her at FMH.

    Following treatment, Richards also gave a brief statement to the deputy, claiming that after the two women began fighting and had fallen to the ground, she [Richards] pulled a folding utility knife with a razor for the blade from her bra and began swinging the blade, cutting Sanders.

    Asked by the deputy if she was targeting a particular area of the victim’s body, Richards reportedly told the officer, “I was just swinging my blade.”

    Richards was arrested on April 2, and charged with aggravated assault. She was released from the Fairfield County Detention Center on a $10,000 surety bond.

  • Fairfield Deputy fired after arrest

    COLUMBIA – A Fairfield County Sheriff’s Deputy was relieved of his duties last week after he was charged with domestic violence 2nd degree and public disorderly conduct.

    Blake Justin Adams, 36, of Ridgeway, was arrested about 5 p.m. at 400 Princess Street in Columbia on Saturday, March 17, after he was allegedly involved in a verbal altercation with a woman that turned physical. The incident report states that Adams and the woman live together.

    According to the incident report, the woman struck Adams with an open hand, then Adams struck her twice on her face with an open hand. The victim was transported to Richland Memorial Hospital. Medical personnel reported that the woman’s nose was broken and possibly her lobe.

    The incident was reportedly witnessed by multiple people who provided written statements. It was reported that, while being detained, Adams became disorderly, uttering profanity in a loud and boisterous manner in a public roadway.

    “We got a call on Saturday that one of our deputies, Blake Adams, was arrested for an incident at Five Points during the St. Patrick’s Day event,” Fairfield County Sheriff Will Montgomery told The Voice on Thursday, March 22. “We did an investigation and he was terminated on Tuesday night.”

    Adams was taken to the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center in Columbia and released on a $257.50 personal recognizance bond for disorderly conduct and a $5,000 surety bond for domestic violence.

  • Blair brush fires burn 125 acres

    WINNSBORO – Multiple brush fires were reported Saturday afternoon in the Jenkinsville area along Highways 215 and 213. Fairfield County Fire Chief Jason Pope said the fires, which were first reported a little after 2 p.m., consumed about 125 acres.

    Thirty emergency personnel were on scene as well as 11 fire and emergency units including multiple fire engines, tankers and brush trucks, an EMS unit, the rescue squad, a rehab unit, an airplane, the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office and the Winnsboro Department of Public Safety. Support was also requested from the Forestry Commission, and emergency units responded from Newberry County, Pope said.

    The fire was controlled at about 5:30 p.m.

    “No one was injured and, thanks to the quick actions of our volunteer firefighters, no homes or structures were damaged,” Pope said. “The forestry units have contained the fires, but they burned through the night and into Sunday.”

    The Fairfield County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the cause of the fire.

  • BW man arrested for grand larceny in Ridgeway

    RIDGEWAY – A Blythewood man has been charged with grand larceny, theft of alcohol valued at more than $60,000 from a beverage distributor on Highway 34 in Ridgeway.

    McGoogan

    Neil Daniel McGoogan III was arrested on Feb. 15, 2018 after the management of the beverage distributor where McGoogan worked began looking into a large inventory loss, according to sheriff’s deputies.

    After multiple system checks, the company’s management observed McGoogan’s gate used at unauthorized times. The video system showed the suspect exiting and re-entering the gated facility on a golf cart and then in later videos, after other employees had left work, the suspect’s truck showed up on the video, the incident report stated.

    The report stated that an inside video captured the suspect loading a pallet with cases of Ciroc and Crown Royal liquor and then entering the ‘cool’ room and exiting with the pallet wrapped in foil blankets that the company uses to wrap temperature sensitive products.

    The suspect then placed the pallet on the shrink wrap stand, wrapped the pallet, and moved the pallet outside the building, the report stated.

    According to the report, the suspect is then seen exiting the facility with the pallet in the back of his truck. Deputies reported that these events occurred between Nov. 8, 2017 and January 16, 2018.

    The sheriff’s department is still investigating whether additional dates are involved in the heists. McGoogan was released on a $500 bond.