D.A. seeks consistency in games law

TABOR-LORIS TRIBUNE WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2012 3

(Continued from Page 1)

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astCompiled byAl Leonard

Town ManagerTown of Tabor City

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July 20, 1949

Town will celebrate national record Fred S. Royster, president of the Tobacco Warehouse-men’s Association of N.C. will aid opening day festivities of the tobacco market here. Tabor City merchants are making elaborate plans for an all day celebration honoring the national record made by the local market in 1948 when the Tabor City Market paid the highest average price per hundred pounds to growers who sold their tobacco here.

property charges at Soles’ home, an Aug. 9 leap from a second-floor courthouse win-dow in Whiteville, coupled with the jury tampering allegations prompted the decision to seek trial in another county, Nance said. “The question now is how far away do I need to go?” Nance said.

Big bond District Attorney Jon David said prosecutors asked for a $10 million bond, with Supe-rior Court Judge Doug Sasser instead setting bail at more than four times B.J. Wright’s previous $750,000 bail. B.J. Wright had been held at the Columbus County Deten-tion Center without bond since his Aug. 9 courthouse jump that landed him in the hospital for a day. “Everyone is entitled to bond, with the exception of capital murder defendants,” Nance said. But until last week, B.J. Wright had not sought a bond

Conference of District At-torneys,” David said. “As the DA, I’m the legal advisor to more than 20 agencies in three counties. “I want to do things in a consistent approach with a coordinated effort. I don’t want to do things piecemeal.” David said he plans to make public his plans for prosecu-tion of businesses found in violation of the sweepstakes law before enforcement efforts begin. “Almost certainly I would give fair warning,” David said. “But I’m mindful that while I’m a legal advisor to law enforce-ment, I don’t control them.”

Appeal Enforcement of the state law could be put on hold if the state Supreme Court ruling is appealed to the U.S Supreme Court, an advisory to cities and towns from the North Carolina League of Municipalities indi-cated.

“It is anticipated that the At-torney General’s office will of-fer guidance to the law enforce-ment community on enforcing the ban,” the League notice said. “We advise members to wait for this guidance from the Attorney General before mov-ing forward with enforcing the ban.” - Deuce Niven

hearing since August. Mike Ramos, a Brunswick County attorney now repre-senting B.J. Wright, asked for the bond hearing, which was not scheduled until Tuesday, Nance said.

Charges Charges in the trial dis-rupted by the jury tampering investigation in August in-cluded maintaining a vehicle for the purpose of distributing cocaine, marijuana possession, possession of drug parapher-nalia, and resisting police, all stemming from a January 2011 traffic stop that took place in Cerro Gordo. An attached charge of being a habitual felon means that B.J. Wright, if convicted, could be sentenced to nearly ten years in prison, Nance said. B.J. Wright is also awaiting trial in two other incidents, including damage to property at Soles’ home, with habitual felon charges also attached to those cases, Nance said in August.

Bond for B.J. his first since courthouse leap(Continued from Page 1)

Wilson ButlerStephanie Fowler Vickie Strickland

TC women sought in Loris shoplifting case

By DEUCE NIVEN

Warrants charging two Ta-bor City women with shoplift-ing are in the hands of Loris Police Department officers, Chief Joseph Vaught said Tuesday. Vicky Denise Fowler Strick-land, 31, of West 3rd Street; and Stephanie Renee Fowler, 27, of Sanders Street; are named in the warrants obtained by Of-ficer Alicia Miller, Vaught said. Both are accused of taking a bag full of merchandise, includ-ing “Gamecock t-shirts,” from Loris Drug Store. A store employee told po-lice that Fowler walked out of the Main Street store just before 3:30 p.m. last Wednesday, dumped the bag into a white Ford Explorer, and covered the stolen goods with coats. Confronted by the store worker, Strickland “drove off recklessly” the report said. Both women have criminal records. Strickland has been arrested in Horry County five times this year, twice for shoplifting, for receiving sto-

len property, grand larceny, and failing to appear in court, records at J. Reuben Long De-tention Center show.

Elsewhere Other reports on file at the Loris Police Department this week include:• MartyDavaneSoles,21,of Sandy Place Drive, Tabor City, was charged by Lt. Karen Shep-herd Friday with shoplifting, two counts of possession of a controlled substance, manufac-ture of a controlled substance, having an open container of alcohol in his vehicle, and reck-less driving. His arrest followed Lt. Shepherd and Chief Vaught seeing his red Cadillac “acceler-ate to a high rate of speed in a 30 mile per hour speed zone” and initiating a traffic stop. Pre-scription medication, suspect marijuana, and three pairs of shoes worth more than $315 sto-len from Wolpert’s Department Store, were recovered from the car, the report said.• Marcus Allen Canady, 45,of Commons Blvd in Myrtle Beach, was charged by Sgt.

Butler pleads in 2009 HP chase A guilty plea to assaulting a police officer won’t result in more prison time for former Tabor City resident Wilson Butler. Sentenced to serve up to four years in prison following a probation revocation hearing in June 2011, Butler’s latest plea resulted adding another 27 to 33 months in prison. That was meaningless, however, with the new time to be served with his current term. His probation revocation stemmed from his absconding from probation, and for sev-eral felony and misdemeanor charges that followed a May 20, 2009 high-speed chase that involved several law enforce-ment agencies between Tabor City and Fair Bluff. During the chase Butler at-tempted to ram a car operated by Highway Patrol Trooper Scott Floyd with his car, forc-ing Floyd to veer away at the last second to avoid a head-on collision. Earlier, in February 2009, Butler had entered a guilty plea to two counts of cocaine posses-sion, two counts of possession of a firearm, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. His probation was transferred then to Mecklenburg County. Now 63, Butler is serving his time at the Pender Correctional Institution. His scheduled re-lease date, NC Department of Correction records say, is June 17, 2014.

Holdup suspect surrenders A Loris woman sought in connection with a gaming parlor robbery in Brunswick County last month surrendered there on Thursday, Sgt. Del Routh of the Brunswick County Sheriff ’s Office said. Ronchekala Shawntae Ve-

ness, also known as “ K o o t ” , 32, of 3243 Foxwood Drive, Lo-ris, was c h a r g e d with con-spiracy to c o m m i t r o b b e r y in a case t h at a l -ready had three sus-

pects in custody. A fifth alleged conspirator, caught on video surveillance equipment, has not yet been identified or charged. Veness was released from the Brunswick County Detention Center after her $20,000 bond was posted. Already charged are:• XavierAturoJenrette,22,of Bird Drive in Shallotte• Brandon Leroyal Dyson, 28,of Hwy 111 in Little River• JacobianWilson,34,of SandyRidge Loop, Longs All three are charged with conspiracy to commit robbery. Jenrette and Dyson are charged with robbery with a dangerous weapon. Jenrette is also charged with simple possession of mari-juana and several traffic offenses in unrelated matters. Anyone with information on the fifth suspect is asked to contact Det. Kyle Jones at the Brunswick County Sheriff ’s Of-fice at 910-880-4944. A reward of $500 has been posted in the case.

Robbery Two men entered the Winner’s World Sweepstakes at Calabash at about 5:42 a.m. on Nov. 29 by shooting out the front door, police said.

Vaness

Task force: Child porn arrestSentence could be 90 years

By DEUCE NIVEN A Loris area man faces up to 90 years in prison if convicted of felony charges involving the distribution of child pornogra-phy, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said this week. Freddie Garfield Grainger Jr., 37, was arrested after deputies with the Horry County Sheriff ’s Office served a search warrant at his home just off of U.S. 701 north of Loris Friday morning, Sheriff ’s Sgt. Jeff Benton said. Booked on nine counts of sexual exploitation of a minor in the third degree at J. Reuben Long Detention Center near Conway about 9:20 a.m. Friday,

Grainger was released just after 5 p.m. Saturday after post-ing bond of $90,000, jail records show. Conviction on the pend-ing charges against Grainger could send him to prison for up to ten years on each count, a news release from the Attorney General’s office said. With the investigation on-going, additional charges are possible, the news release said.

Task force effort A member of the Attorney General’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the Horry County Sheriff ’s Of-fice was assisting partners from the Berkeley County Sheriff

Office as they executed a search warrant at Grainger’s home about 7:30 a.m. Friday, Benton said. A Berkeley County officer, during an undercover investi-gation, “downloaded multiple child pornography videos via peer-to-peer file sharing from an IP address at a residence in Horry County,” the Attorney General’s news release said. That address was identified as Grainger’s residence. Inves-tigators seized “multiple com-puters, cell phones and other electronic equipment,” the news release said. “Grainger admitted possession of ‘many’ child pornography videos.” Grainger is employed at

Freddie Graingerthe Minuteman convenience store in Tabor City. A company official, who said she was not aware of the charges against Grainger, said Tuesday his employment status was un-changed.

Brief pursuit leads to DWI charges: TCPD reports A brief pursuit ending in a driving while impaired arrest is included in reports on file at the Tabor City Police Depart-ment this week. Those reports include:• RickyDeanRegister,29,of Bell Street, was charged by Of-

ficer Eric Gause last Monday with fleeing to elude arrest, driving with a revoked license, driving while impaired, and operating an uninsured vehicle with a revoked license plate. Register is accused of refusing to pull over for police attempt-

ing to make a traffic stop for s seat belt violation, instead driving home and exhibiting slurred speech and apparently “barely able to walk” as he got out of his car. A breath chemi-cal test showed a blood alcohol content of .19, more than twice the state’s legal threshold of .08 for intoxication.• JulieStevensBurns,35,of Three Curve Road, Loris, was charged by Capt. Dean Foley Friday with obtaining a con-trolled substance by fraud or forgery in a warrant obtained by Detective Lt. Jerry Sarvis. She is accused of obtaining 180 tablets of 30mg Roxicodone on a forged prescription passed at the Tabor City Medicine Mart on Dec. 1.

• Albert Lee Vereen, 51, of Fair Bluff Road, was charged by Officer Jeff Grainger last Tuesday with trespassing, after being caught inside a dumpster behind Food Lion. Vereen had been warned by store manage not to trespass there previously, the report said. Vereen was also arrested on a warrant for fail-ing to show in court to answer earlier charges.• Prentis Connie Reaves,40, of Williams Road, Chad-bourn, was charged by Officer Grainger last Wednesday with driving with a revoked license.• Alana Michelle Jones, 28,of Swamp Fox Hwy West, was charged by Officer Matthew Turner Thursday with driving without a license.

• BobbyTerrellSmith,27,of Williams Street, was charged by MSGT Michael Jamison Nov. 30 with operating an uninsured vehicle with a revoked license plate.• George Phillips Nobles,53, of Old Stake Road, Chad-bourn, was charged by Officer Grainger Dec. 2 with operating an uninsured vehicle with a revoked license plate.• Jackie Phillip Britt, 61, of Peacock Road, was charged by Officer Grainger Nov. 29 with operating an uninsured vehicle with a revoked license plate.• AmandaJonesLewis,38,of Pireway Road, was charged by Officer Grainger last Monday with failing to appear in court on a larceny charge.

Richard Kostanek last Mon-day with shoplifting, accused of concealing meat worth $77 inside his pants at the Hill’s grocery store in Loris.• MichaelTylerGerlach,17,astudent at Loris High School, was charged by Officer Matt Mahon Friday with possession of marijuana. A drug sniffing alerted to Gerlach’s 2001 Lin-coln in the school parking lot, and a search of the car found marijuana, the report said.• David James, 50, of GreenSea Road, told Sgt. Kostanek Friday that a man had struck him in the face during an argu-ment that occurred near Broad and Maple streets, leaving a small laceration above the left eye. James refused medical

treatment, and the man was gone when police arrived.• AnofficialwithaNewJerseybased financial institution told Sgt. Kostanek last Tuesday that an air conditioning unit, water heater, and duct work worth $5,600 had been taken from a vacant Spring Street home.• Acommercialsprayerworth$350 was reported taken from the bed of an Ecotec Termite & Pest Control truck, parked at the Walnut Street business overnight, the report by Officer Miller said.• Loris IGA employee EricCrawford told Sgt. Kostanek Nov. 27 that a man had walked out of the store with two car-tons of cigarettes worth $93.98.