Deputies investigating home invasion

Darlington County Sheriff’s Deputies are investigating a reported home invasion near Darlington.

The incident happened about 11:45 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 28, on Longleaf Drive near Darlington, according to a press release issued Monday by the sheriff’s office.
While deputies were responding to the call, dispatchers received another call that deputies weren’t needed at the scene. The residents told the deputies two men came into the residence and demanded money and drugs. The suspects robbed them of money and some jewelry, then left.

During the robbery, one of the suspects broke a glass and cut himself. The suspects tried to clean it up before they left, however. The blood is being sent to the State Law Enforcement Division for DNA analysis, according to the release.

Earlier in the month, four Hartsville residents were arrested on drug charges after deputies responded to a reported home invasion near Hartsville, according to an earlier press release.

James Mondrnea Carroway, 33; Ladreca S. Gibson, 32; and Kelvin Brown, 19, all of 711 Poplar St., are each charged with trafficking in crack cocaine, trafficking in cocaine and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, Darlington County Chief Deputy Sheriff Tom Gainey said.

Pam Wheeler, 51, of 845 Hartland Drive, is charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, Gainey said.

Deputies were called to the Poplar Street residence about 5 a.m. Sept. 8. When they arrived, they were told someone had been taken from the residence by armed suspects who’d entered the residence and demanded to know where the victim had his drugs hidden.

When the suspects and the victim went outside into the yard, the person left inside the residence heard a gunshot. The suspects and victim were gone when deputies arrived, and a Be On the Lookout (BOLO) alert was issued. About an hour later, the victim, who’d suffered a wound to one of his hands, was found at a residence on Society Avenue in Hartsville, from where he’d called his mother’s residence. An EMS crew was called to the scene to treat the suspect, then take him to an area hospital.

While the scene was being processed by State Law Enforcement Division agents, a quantity of drugs was seen in plain view at the Poplar Street residence. A search warrant for that residence, as well as a residence at 845 Hartland Drive and a storage bin on Bobo Newsom Highway in Hartsville, was obtained and served by Darlington County Sheriff’s Office narcotics officers and investigators. Drugs were found at all three sites. Among the items seized during the searches were 146 grams of crack cocaine, 129 grams of cocaine, 441 grams of marijuana, three handguns, scales, $1,666 in cash and $500 in counterfeit currency, Gainey said.

Sunday night’s incident is the county’s eighth reported home invasion in the past year.

More than half of the home invasions also involved a shooting, two of them fatal.