Police | Conway men sentenced in counterfeiting case

POLICE

CONWAY

Two sentenced for counterfeiting

Two Conway men were sentenced to prison Thursday after they pleaded guilty to charges of passing counterfeit money, according to a news release issued Friday from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Parish Gagum, 23, and Dashawn Jamel Ford, 22, were sentenced in federal court in Florence by District Judge R. Bryan Harwell, according to the release. Gagum was ordered to serve to 14 months in prison and two years supervised release, while Ford was sentenced to 4 3/4 months in prison and two years supervised release.

Both were ordered to pay restitution.

Between March 2009 and May 2010, Gagum manufactured counterfeit $10 and $100 bills using a computer, according to the release. The men passed some of the counterfeit bills at businesses in Conway in April 2010.

MYRTLE BEACH

Man charged with walking out on bill

A Conway man was arrested late Thursday after employees of a Myrtle Beach restaurant said he left without paying his bill and then pulled a knife on them when they confronted him outside, according to a police report.

Matthew Chad Gresham, 32, of Conway was charged with defrauding a restaurant, disorderly conduct and malicious injury to animals or personal property after police took him into custody about 11:30 p.m. Thursday at Second Avenue North and Chester Street, police said.

Officers were called at 6:30 p.m. Thursday to the Noisy Oyster located at 101 S. Kings Highway for a fraud after a man ordered $46.38 worth of food and beverages and left without paying for it, according to the report. The business owner, an employee and a friend got into vehicle and drove around the area and found the man.

When the trio confronted the man about the unpaid bill, they said he pulled out a knife and they ran back to the vehicle, according to the report. The victims said the man stabbed the rear tire of the vehicle.

An hour later police were called to 300 N. Kings Highway for another fraud and the description of that suspect matched the man from the earlier incident, according to the report.

Police said witnesses identified Gresham as the suspect in the incidents.

MYRTLE BEACH

Fugitive charged in Myrtle Beach

A man wanted in North Carolina on sex offenses against a child was arrested by Myrtle Beach police early Friday, according to a police report.

Peter Michael Vallejo, 33, of Apex, N.C., was charged as a fugitive from justice by Myrtle Beach police after he was taken into custody about 12:30 a.m. Friday at an apartment located at 7200 N. Ocean Blvd., according to the report.

Myrtle Beach officers were called by Apex, N.C., police, who learned Vallejo was staying at the Long Bay Resort. Vallejo voluntarily surrendered to police and was taken into custody without incident.

Apex police had issued an arrest warrant for a charge of sex offense against a child and planned to extradite Vallejo to North Carolina for prosecution, according to the report.

Local

GEORGETOWN

Family Justice Center gets new director

Vicki Bourus is taking over as executive director of the Georgetown Family Justice Center.

According to a press release, Bourus started at the FJC on the advisory board in October 2011. She’ll be taking the place of Joan Meacham who served as the interim director for the center.

Meacham is returning to her full-time career with Prudential Myrtle Beach, a real estate company.

Bourus was previously the executive director of the S.C. Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. She retired from that position in 2011 after 12 years on the job. Bourus remains a licensed social worker.

GRAND STRAND

State AP course participation increases

More South Carolina students are taking advantage of advanced placement course offerings, but the number of students scoring a 3, 4 or 5 (proficient) on exams remained low, according to the eighth annual AP Report to the Nation, which was released Friday.

The results were issued in a statement from the S.C. Department of Education.

South Carolina ranks 21st in the nation for students scoring proficient on an AP Exam at 16.5 percent, slightly short of the national average of 18.1 percent. South Carolina students in the class of 2011 took 28,392 exams with 55.6 percent of exams scored as proficient.

The trend data comparing 2001 scores with 2011 scores showed that while South Carolina is improving in the percentage of test-takers scoring proficient, other states have had a greater growth rate.

South Carolina improved by 4.7 percent in the past 10 years, while Maryland experienced the greatest growth rate, improving by 13.1 percent. The average rate of growth for the United States was 7.3 percent.

In terms of access to the exam, South Carolina has seen marked growth. For the class of 2011, 10,149 graduates participated in AP-level courses last year, a 67 percent increase from 2001.

The largest achievement gaps between those graduating and graduates who took an AP exam were among African-American and low income students. Over-represented were Asian/Pacific Islander and White student subgroups.

From staff reports