February 25, 2015 – Edward Terrell Chandler, 27, of Johnston, was arrested Tuesday morning, Feb. 24, for the sexual assault and kidnapping of an 82 year old Johnston woman. According to law enforcement, Chandler knocked on the door to the woman’s Lee Street home early Tuesday morning saying he needed help for his father. When the woman opened the door for Chandler, whom she knew, he attacked her; sexually assaulting her, forcing her to give him her money and write him a check, and tying her up. He then fled the scene.

After Chandler fled, the woman was able to free one of her hands and called 911; that call was received a little after 7:30. When law enforcement arrived at the home, they found the woman still partially tied up. She was transported to a local hospital to receive treatment from the assault but has reportedly since been released.

Both the Johnston Police Department and the Edgefield County Sheriff’s Office responded to this crime. Chandler was captured by an Edgefield County Sheriff’s Office deputy within 30 minutes of the call coming into dispatch. During the investigation into this crime, it was discovered that shortly after the attack, Chandler had attempted to cash a check for a substantial amount of money at a Johnston gas station.

Chandler is currently being held in the Edgefield County Detention Center. He is being charged with Burglary 1^st, kidnapping, Criminal Sexual Conduct 1^st, and armed robbery.

Chandler is the same man recently acquitted by an Edgefield County jury on similar charges. In that case, he was accused of attacking a Johnston man in the same fashion albeit with no sexual assault. The victim in that case, Roger Lamb, paid to publish a letter in The Advertiser blasting the jurors who acquitted Chandler. Lamb even predicted future attacks by Chandler saying, “They [the jurors] returned two criminals to the community where they can, and probably will, victimize other citizens.” Speaking to how Chandler’s defense in that trial tried to defame Lamb and the jurors choice to believe criminals over a law abiding citizen, Lamb also wrote “They [the criminal element] can rob, steal, and rape at will and, when caught, simply concoct a story that blames the victim and then wait for a gullible jury to set them free.” Mr. Lamb’s entire letter, as well as results from a lie detector test he took regarding the crime, can be found in The Advertiser’s Nov. 26, 2014 edition.

The Edgefield County Sheriff’s Office is conducting the investigation into this latest crime. The Advertiser was told that as the investigation into this crime continues more charges against Chandler are possible.