Over $11,000 Stolen From Home on Hwy 19

Over $11,000 worth of items were stolen from a home on Hwy 19 in Trenton, Thursday, Nov. 13. According to an Edgefield County Sheriff’s Office report, the homeowner received unexpected guests from Aiken County around 11:00 Thursday night, friends of a family member, who stated they just needed to get out of their house for a while. The victim stated that after the visitor’s left, he felt something was not right about the visit and went outside to find the door to his shed partially opened. Once he went inside the shed, the man found that numerous items had been taken including a motorcycle, a rebuilt Harley Davidson motor, a welding machine, an air compressor, and several tool boxes containing tools. The motorcycle is described as being white with charcoal color and Indian designs on the gas tank. The man stated that his visitors were driving gold Cadillac SUV and pulling a black trailer.

The ECSO was able to collect evidence from this scene, and the case has been turned over to the investigative unit of the ECSO.

Reports of Damage by Bullets in Two Separate Incidents

The Edgefield County Sheriff’s Office responded to two separate reports of damage to property by bullets. In the first incident, a resident of Airport Road in Johnston reported that he heard a loud bang coming from the front of his residence during the late night hours. The victim stated he thought the noise was someone knocking on his door, but when he went to check, there was no one there. It was not until two days later that the man noticed damage to the left side of his front door and found a bullet in the side of his home. The ECSO observed and retrieved the bullet from the front outside wall. It was turned over to the investigative unit as evidence.

In a separate incident, a resident of Edgefield Road in Trenton called the ECSO to report that someone had fired a bullet into his home. According to the ECSO report, the man was in bed when he heard glass shattering inside his home. He got up to find a sliding glass door located on the rear of his home and connecting to his living room shattered.

The responding deputy was able to find several marks made by the bullet throughout the interior of the home and located what is believed to be a handgun caliber bullet lying on the carpet near the home’s front door. The bullet was collected as evidence and the rest of the scene was processed for evidence. All evidence was turned over to the investigative unit of the ECSO.

Scam Artists Continue to Target Edgefield County Residents

Two reports recently filed with the Edgefield County Sheriff’s Office demonstrate that scam artists are still seeking victims in Edgefield County. In the first report, a sixty year old woman was contacted by a man who identified himself as Frank. Frank tried to explain to her that he was with the IRS and had a warrant for her arrest. However, the woman stated that Frank’s accent was too heavy for her to understand him, so he gave the phone to his accomplice who identified himself as Ryan. Ryan then proceeded to tell the woman the she was going to be arrested for not paying her taxes but that she could rectify the situation by paying him the $3450 he claimed she owed. The woman argued with the man but in the end was convinced to follow the man’s instruction. The woman was then instructed to go obtain Green Dot cards from local drug stores in the amount of $3450; which she did. The woman then provided the card numbers to Ryan. Later, the woman was advised by a family member to call law enforcement as this sounded like a scam. Unfortunately, it was a scam, and the money on all the Green Dot cards purchased by the woman is now gone. The victim in this instance did try to contact Ryan, but the number from which he called was unavailable.

In the second reported incident, an eighteen year old woman contacted local law enforcement after receiving a suspicious package in the mail. According to the ECSO report on this incident, the woman received a priority mail express package shipped from a Steven Thomas in San Diego, California. Inside the package was a letter from a Tony Williams that instructed the woman she was being given two checks in the form of money orders for being a Walmart Secret Shopper. Along with the letter, there were two postal money order checks, each made for $950. In this case, the woman did not become a victim, and the ECSO collected the letter and money orders as evidence.