MyrtleBeachOnline.com: Crime and Courts

Teen suspect in girl's slaying 'like a family member'

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 00:14 EDT

Grieving relatives of an 8-year-old S.C. girl found raped and slain this week said Thursday that the young teenager accused of the crime was "like a family member" and his mother sought to comfort them when the girl couldn't be found.

"I just miss my baby. I wish this was over," said the girl's mother, Renee Woody, weeping just before a scheduled court appearance for the accused 14-year-old boy that was later postponed.

Authorities have declined to identify the teen accused of raping and killing Dymia Janae Woody. Police said he was arrested Wednesday after being identified through DNA samples that he and other neighbors submitted voluntarily. No other arrests are expected.

Doctor denies fondling claims

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:53 EDT

A North Myrtle Beach cardiologist charged with inappropriately touching two of his female patients said he plans to fight to clear his name.

Dr. Omar Jaraki, 51, was arrested and charged Wednesday with two counts of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature.

Two female patients told police in early June that while being treated by Jaraki he fondled their genital area and made sexually explicit remarks to them, according to a statement from the Conway Police Department.

Teen arrested in shooting death

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 00:26 EDT

Eight days ago, Joanne Davis watched a woman fatally shoot her 29-year-old sister.

And for eight days she wondered if police would ever catch the teen suspected of shooting Monica Burroughs.

On Wednesday, Davis got the news she had prayed for. Police found and arrested 17-year-old Brittany Alexis Johnson in Darlington County.

Coast Guard rescues 5 boaters after crash

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 06:28 EDT

Five people went to the hospital after their boat crashed near Murrells Inlet and Huntington Beach early Wednesday, according to U.S. Coast Guard officials.

"Three immediately went to the hospital and the other two stayed around to answer questions," Coast Guard Petty Officer Andre Trinidad said.

The boaters were treated at Waccamaw Community Hospital, but further information on their condition was unavailable.

In Our Towns: Briefs, police blotter

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 06:09 EDT

LOCAL

MYRTLE BEACH

Concert series lasts through end of August

Five stranded after boat capsizes off Huntington Beach

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:36 EDT

Five people were sent to the hospital after a boat capsized near Murrells Inlet and Huntington Beach early this morning, according to U.S. Coast Guard officials and a news release.

"Three [people] immediately went to the hospital and the other two stayed around to answer questions,'' Coast Guard Petty Officer Andre Trinidad said.

The three people were taken to Waccamaw Community Hospital, but the extent of their injuries was not known.

In Our Towns

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:23 EDT

LOCAL

HORRY COUNTY

Council changes mind on authority's board

Bank warns of e-mail scam

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:42 EDT

Conway National Bank is warning customers and non-customers to beware of an e-mail and phone scam involving the bank.

Over the weekend and Monday, people have reported receiving phone calls with a recorded message telling them that Conway National Bank has suspended their accounts. The message asks people to call a number to respond.

Bank officials say this is a scam - a way for thieves to try to get people's personal information, such as bank account numbers, ATM cards and credit cards.

Freed Conway pastor's homecoming delayed

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:42 EDT

A Conway pastor who went to Siberia thinking he would spend eight days ministering to people - and instead spent five months in jail - still can't get home.

The Rev. Phillip Miles was freed last week but his travel visa, granted for exactly the length of his stay in one of the world's most remote places, expired while he was in jail.

The leader of Christ Community Church in Conway was arrested for bringing a box of .300-caliber hunting ammunition through customs at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow and was sentenced to three years in prison in April. The ammunition was to be a gift for a pastor there, he has said.

Juveniles charged in Goodwill fire

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 00:20 EDT

A pair of 12-year-old girls were charged with second-degree arson Friday in connection with a fire this week that authorities consider suspicious at a Goodwill Industries store near Surfside Beach, according to Horry County police.

Lt. Jamie DeBari declined to identify the girls because they are juveniles.

He also would not say whether they are area residents.

Informant provides details in UNC slaying

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 00:20 EDT

A confidential witness told investigators that Demario Atwater said he and Laurence Lovette Jr. took Eve Carson from her home March 5 after entering through an open door, according to search warrants made public Friday.

The documents offered the first detailed public accounts of the crime, in which Atwater and Lovette are accused of killing Carson, the student body president at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

According to the witness, Atwater said he and Lovette forced Carson into the back seat of her Toyota Highlander and drove her to an ATM.

Officer suspended after arson accusation

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:27 EDT

The son of a retired forest ranger from Horry County has been suspended without pay from Horry County environmental services following his arrest in connection with a Nichols community woods fire last year.

Kyle G. Bell, 32, of Nichols, was suspended Thursday, said Kelly Brosky, a spokeswoman for Horry County.

He will remain suspended pending the outcome of his trial, she said.

Lawyers put off hearing in killing

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:27 EDT

A man and woman charged in the death of the woman's husband appeared Thursday before a Circuit Court judge for a bond hearing, but their attorneys withdrew the requests, officials said.

Sherry G. Engel, 52, and Timmy Rogers, 40, of Leitchfield, Ky., are each charged with murder in Frederik Engel's April 22 death. The 54-year-old's body was found in a wooded area near the mailboxes of the couple's home in the Berkshire Forest community near Carolina Forest.

Sherry Engel and Rogers appeared before Circuit Court Judge Larry Hyman, but their attorneys, Barbara Pratt and Kia Wilson, respectively, withdrew the request for Hyman to set bond on the charges.

Judge denies bond in College Park death

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:27 EDT

Bond was denied Thursday for a woman prosecutors called the "mastermind" behind the shooting death of a man in the College Park subdivision near Conway that shut down two local colleges for hours.

Ladorrean Chukell Collington, 21, appeared in circuit court Thursday for a bond hearing, and Judge Larry Hyman denied her request, calling her "a danger to the community."

Collington is among seven people charged in connection with the death of 37-year-old Allen Smith, who was found shot to death April 14 in his home on Barberry Drive near Coastal Carolina University.

Teens in court in CCU student's shooting

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:24 EDT

A judge denied bond Wednesday for one of two Myrtle Beach teens charged in the fatal shooting of a Coastal Carolina University student.

Circuit Court Judge Steven John denied a bond request for 18-year-old Keion M. Griffin, but set bail at $50,000 for Demario Stukes, 17, with restrictions. The two are are charged with murder and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime in connection with the shooting death of 20-year-old Corey Brooks last month.

A 16-year-old, who was charged as a juvenile in the shooting, pleaded guilty June 13 to being a minor in possession of a handgun. Prosecutors said the gun used in the crime was given to Stukes and Griffin by the juvenile. The youth passed the gun to the others to carry while they were out that night, assistant solicitor Donna Elder said during Wednesday's hearing.

Officer shoots dog he said charged and bit him

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 10:50 EDT

An Horry County Environmental Control Officer shot and killed a yellow labrador retriever Tuesday after the dog bit him twice, according to police.

The dog's owner could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Officer Eddie Martin responded about 4 p.m. to a call concerning three stray dogs on Gemini Circle near Conway.

Conway shooting suspect still missing

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:24 EDT

Conway police continue to search for a teen who is alleged to have shot and killed a 29-year-old single mother of four on Tuesday.

Police have issued a warrant for Brittany Alexis Johnson, 17, of Conway charging her with with homicide.

Monica Burroughs, 29, was shot at about 3 p.m. at on Bayside Avenue in the Huckabee Heights public housing community, police said.

Bragg soldier's death probed

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:24 EDT

Fort Bragg officials said Wednesday they were investigating why a pregnant soldier who was found dead this week at a Fayetteville motel wasn't reported missing after she was absent from a formation.

The body of Spc. Megan Lynn Touma, 23, was identified Tuesday, two days after she was found dead. Fayetteville police have called the death suspicious, but few details have been released.

"We're shocked, first and foremost. It's always sad when you lose a soldier. And on top of that, here's a beautiful young woman who is seven months pregnant. It's sad and deeply troubling," said Maj. Angela Funaro, a Fort Bragg spokeswoman.

Students, state say job training for inmates is a success

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:24 EDT

A program that is just over a year old has helped at least 125 inmates from the Georgetown County jail receive training and find jobs in the community.

The re-entry program, which is one of a few such programs available through a county jail in South Carolina, teaches classes in welding, carpentry and plumbing.

While volunteers and students applaud the program as a way for inmates to find jobs on the outside, officials with the S.C. Department of Corrections say it also saves taxpayer money.

26 drug gang suspects indicted in Charlotte

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:28 EDT

A federal grand jury indicted 26 people suspected of being part of an international gang accused in a cross-border drug ring, according to court documents unsealed Tuesday.

Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey unsealed a federal indictment that charges people believed to be members of the MS-13 gang with federal racketeering for forming a drug trafficking ring that sold cocaine, marijuana and narcotics, and of committing multiple robberies.

Some face charges in four slayings in Greensboro and Charlotte.

Arson suspected in Goodwill store fire

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:28 EDT

POLICE

HORRY COUNTY

Arson suspected in Goodwill store fire

Killer put away for life

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 10:25 EDT

Handcuffed and shackled, Edwin Cornelius of Aynor sobbed at times Friday during a court hearing in which he was sentenced to life in prison for killing his estranged girlfriend in 2006 at Carolina Forest High School.

"I needed help," Cornelius, 26, said. "I didn't know how things worked. Now I'm standing here with my girlfriend's blood on my hands and it won't wash away. I loved Natalia. I tried so hard to make her happy. We'd fussed, and we'd fight. Never once did I think about killing here."

During the 90-minute hearing Friday, Cornelius pleaded guilty to murder in the fatal stabbing of Natalia Holmes, 18, outside the school as he was dropping her off.

Husband gets 20 years for shooting wife

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 00:43 EDT

The estranged husband of an Horry County school administrator was sentenced Friday to 20 years in prison for shooting her.

Brad Senter, 55, must serve 85 percent of the sentence, wear a global positioning monitoring system when he is released, get mental health treatment and not contact Dena Lester, who was shot in the chest on Nov. 13, 2006, in his home.

A jury of eight women and four men found Senter guilty June 5 of assault and battery with intent to kill and criminal domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature in Lester's shooting.

Targets in shooting looked for police

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 00:43 EDT

A suspect authorities believe was involved in a shooting in the Coastal Grand Myrtle Beach mall parking lot is a gang member, but investigators don't know yet whether that was a factor in the incident.

Three men were in a Ford Ranger pickup near the Bed Bath & Beyond entrance about 6:30 p.m. Thursday when a white Mitsubishi Eclipse that had followed them from Seaboard Street pulled up next to them and someone inside flashed a handgun out the passenger side window, they told police. The three in the truck said they kept the windows rolled up and headed toward the cinema entrance "because they usually see a police car there," a Myrtle Beach police officer wrote in an incident report released Friday.

As they were driving, they saw the Eclipse's driver shoot at them, then the car pulled out of the mall parking lot and headed back to Seaboard, the report states. The bullet hit the truck's gas tank and it began leaking gas onto the road, but none of the men was hurt.

Garden City teen charged in elephant theft

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 00:43 EDT

An 18-year-old Garden City Beach woman was arrested Friday in connection with the theft of a trademark blue elephant from a Murrells Inlet eatery.

Chelsea Marie Dimont was charged with one count of grand larceny, said Lt. T.L. Staub, a spokesman for the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office.

Dimont was released Friday from the Georgetown County jail on a $5,000 surety bond, Staub said.

Bail rules loosen for father of hit-and-run victim

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 12:05 EDT

A man accused of firing shots at the house of the woman charged in the hit-and-run death of his son was given greater freedom of movement Thursday while awaiting trial.

Thomas Sullivan Sr., of Murrells Inlet, was released in November on $70,000 bail with several conditions of electronic monitoring and travel restrictions.

A judge lifted those conditions Thursday after Sullivan's attorney petitioned to eliminate the electronic monitoring and GPS requirements.

Homicide by abuse case ends in deal

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:22 EDT

A Conway woman who had used cocaine during pregnancy and was convicted in a precedent-setting homicide-by-child abuse case pleaded guilty Thursday to a lesser charge and was given credit for the time she served in prison.

Regina Denise McKnight, 31, was released Thursday from J. Reuben Long Detention Center, officials said.

McKnight pleaded guilty Thursday to involuntary manslaughter as part of a plea agreement and was sentenced to five years in prison with credit for the seven years she's already served, 15th Circuit Solicitor Greg Hembree said.

Weaker sex-crime registry law worries Strand groups

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:26 EDT

Officials with local domestic violence groups and a Rape Crisis Center disagree with some sexual offender registry changes that Gov. Mark Sanford has signed into law.

Sanford signed a bill Monday that limits how near to schools sex offenders can live. The measure also reduces penalties when offenders don't register with the state.

The changes in the penalties demean the victims in such crimes, said JoAnne Patterson, director of Citizens Against Spouse Abuse. "Any time they reduce penalties, it minimizes the offense," Patterson said. "It just says, 'It really is not that bad.' Any time you reduce penalties, then the offenses won't be taken seriously."

In Our Towns

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:26 EDT

POLICE

CONWAY

CCU athlete charged in sexual assault case

Driver found dead in river

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 00:23 EDT

Horry County police are investigating the death of a Socastee man found Friday in the Waccamaw River along with his vehicle.

An autopsy will be performed today on William Richardson Jr., at Grand Strand Regional Medical Center, Horry County Deputy Coroner Tamara Willard said. The 35-year-old's body was pulled from the Waccamaw River at Peachtree Landing near Socastee after police found his vehicle there.

There were no apparent signs of injury to Richardson's body when he was found, Willard said. Richardson was reported missing about 9:15 a.m. Friday, Horry County police Lt. Bob Carr said.