Garden City man given maximum sentence of 30 years for attempted kidnapping
A Georgetown County jury convicted a Garden City Beach man for attempting to kidnap a woman and sentenced him to 30 years in prison.
Jeremiah Anthony Dicapua, 70, was given the maximum sentence for an attempted kidnapping charge, said Alicia Richardson, the Georgetown County deputy solicitor who prosecuted the case along with Liz Smith, an assistant solicitor, for the 15th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.
Dicapua’s trial began Tuesday and a jury convicted him Friday morning. He must serve at least 85% of his sentence before he is eligible for parole and once free must register as a sex offender.
According to the solicitor, Dicapua was convicted of murder in 1980 in Horry County where he received a life sentence. In 1996, Dicapua was convicted of escape in Richland County after he fled from a facility there while serving his sentence for murder. He was found in Maryland.
He was paroled in 2000. He was released early due to a previous law that allowed inmates sentenced to life to be eligible for parole after serving 20 years.
However, in the 2000s, Dicapua also served prison time for drug charges involving crack cocaine, and his parole for the murder charge was revoked and he was held until his release in 2015, according to a press release release from the 15th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.
Dicapua's kidnapping case was the first tried in Georgetown County since the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions were lifted by South Carolina Court Administration.
Georgetown County Sheriff Carter Weaver and his deputies led the investigation into the recent incident that was reported on June 10, 2018, when a vacationing woman told police that about 8:30 a.m., a man got out of his vehicle and attempted to abduct her while she was jogging on South Waccamaw Drive, the release said.
The woman said she first noticed him when he stopped his vehicle and tried to talk to her near South Waccamaw Drive and Cedar Street in Horry County. She ignored him and continued on, but saw him again waiting for her at the 600 block of South Waccamaw Drive in Georgetown County where he parked his car, blocking the sidewalk and came from around the vehicle towards her.
The woman said he then reached for her twice before forcefully grabbing her in an attempt to take her. A witness told investigators he observed what appeared to be a small knife in Dicapua’s hand. The woman was able to escape thanks to a self-defense class she had recently taken, the release said.
“The victim and her family in the case were extremely cooperative and worked with police using a sketch artist from Horry County Sheriff’s Office to complete a composite sketch of the suspect,” 15th Circuit Solicitor Jimmy Richardson said. “Tips from the public were vital to the identification of the suspect, and he was initially identified within two days.”
This story was originally published May 15, 2021 at 4:17 PM.
