Police

HORRY COUNTY

‘Tickle game’ leads to sex assault charges

A Conway man was charged in the sexually assault of a 3-year-old N.C. girl while she visited him during the last year, according to a report from the Horry County Police Department.

Kenneth Earl Martin, 47, was charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor under the age of 11 and is being held at J. Reuben Long Detention Center without bail, according to jail records.

The investigation began after the victim was seen being sexually suggestive with another child and told her mother she’d learned the act during visits to the suspect’s Conway home between May 2011 and April, according to the police report. The Onslow County Sheriff’s Office began an investigation into the incident after the girl’s mother reported it to deputies there.

The victim also told police that Martin told her not to talk about the acts because they were a secret, according to the report. The girl said Martin told her they played a “tickle game.”

BRUNSWICK COUNTY

Three charged in theft ring

Three N.C. men were arrested Friday when the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office caught them breaking into homes in the Ash, N.C. area.

William Jerome Dixon, 29, of Tabor City is charged with two counts of breaking and entering and possession of a stolen vehicle. He is also facing charges from Columbus County, N.C. for violating parole, felony larceny and obtaining property by false pretenses. He is being held on $180,000 bail.

Chris Tewan Vereen, 18, of Whiteville, N.C. and Shakeen Onell McArthur, 18, of Tabor City, N.C. are charged with two counts of breaking and entering and possession of a stolen vehicle. Vereen is being held on $100,000 bond, and McArthur’s bond is $102,500.

The stolen vehicle was a 2007 white Dodge van taken from North Myrtle Beach, said Del Routh, spokesman for the Brunswick County sheriff’s office.

The three men are accused of breaking into two homes on Ash Little River Road around 10 a.m. Friday and were found in the van shortly after the second home was broken into, Routh said.

MYRTLE BEACH

Purse snatching at 4 a.m. reported

Two women told Myrtle Beach police that two men and a woman took one woman’s purse and tried to take the other woman’s purse while they walked along Ocean Boulevard, according to a police report.

The victims, ages 22 and 21, told officers they were walking south on Ocean Boulevard from a bar with three other people, about 4 a.m. Thursday, police said. The victims said the suspects started walking behind them in the 400 block of Ocean Boulevard.

The suspects ran up and grabbed the 22-year-old woman’s purse and tried to take the 21-year-old woman’s purse, but were not successful, according to the report.

The suspects then ran toward Kings Highway and two people with the victims chased after them.

The witnesses told police they chased the suspects to the rear of the Lancer Motel at 606 N. Kings Highway before they lost sight of them, according to the report.

Another witness told police he was standing near a vending machine when he saw two men running from two other people, according to the report.

Police have not been able to find the suspects.

BRUNSWICK COUNTY

Woman dies in house fire

A Brunswick County woman has died in a house fire.

Donna Byrd Hambrick, 47, of Leland, N.C. died Friday, said Del Routh, spokesman for the Brunswick County Sheriffs Office.

The fire was at a house on the 6000 block of Farm Meadows Drive in Leland, N.C., Routh said.

Hambrick was found inside when firefighters made a sweep of the home. She was taken to New Hanover County Regional Hospital where she later died.

Foul play is not suspected, but the Brunswick County Sheriff’s office, the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation and the Brunswick County Fire Marshal are still investigating the cause of the blaze.

Myrtle Beach

Carjackers choke driver, steal van

A 51-year-old man was choked unconscious and three men stole his vehicle in the parking garage of an Ocean Boulevard hotel, according to a Myrtle Beach police report.

The victim told officers that about 11 p.m. Thursday in the 3000 block of North Ocean Boulevard he returned to his vehicle, a 2007 white Dodge Caravan, in a parking garage across from the Jamaican Hotel, police said.

The victim, who speaks French, told police what happened through his 46-year-old wife, who translated the conversation, according to the report. The victim was treated by EMS for minor cuts to his head and knee, but refused to go to the hospital.

The victim said he saw three men in the parking lot when he walked to his vehicle and one of the men walked up behind him as he closed the back of the vehicle, according to the report. The victim said the suspect choked him and he tried to get away, but he eventually blacked out.

The victim said when he woke up the keys and his vehicle were gone.

The victim said he went across the street to the Sea Captain’s House to call police and then got his wife from their hotel room and they waited in the lobby of the Caribbean Resort for police.

The victim’s wife told police the vehicle contained pillows, blankets, clothing, shoes, scuba equipment, tools and electronics, which were valued at $1,212, and $10 cash.

From staff reports