HARTSVILLE -- A man crept through a window in a Hartsville family 's home as they slept Friday, carried a 9-year-old girl from her bed and sexually assaulted her before trying to kidnap her from the house, Hartsville Police Chief Tim Kemp said.
Shortly after the crime was reported, police arrested Dearl James Douglas, 20, of 759 Azalea Circle in Hartsville and charged him with first-degree burglary, criminal sexual conduct with a minor and attempted kidnapping, Darlington County Detention Center bookings reports show.
It happened at 12:40 a.m. at a home on Swift Creek Road in Hartsville, when the suspect removed a screen from a back bedroom window and entered the home where a family was sleeping.
Police said the suspect walked into a 9-year-old’s bedroom and carried the sleeping girl to the room where he entered the home.
Witnesses said the girl was drifting in and out of sleep and thought it was a family member carrying her.
The suspect started to undressed the girl and that’s when she awoke, realized who it was and screamed, Kemp said.
The girl’s grandmother heard her cries and ran to investigate, he said.
The suspect escaped out the window while the grandmother called E-911.
The suspect was captured just a short distance from the family’s home.
Douglas’ bond was denied Friday by a Darlington judge and he remains in custody at the Darlington County jail.
The case is disturbing to officers and the community, Kemp said.
Just one incident of sexual assault can have profound effects on a child, especially if they don’t seek treatment immediately, Pee Dee Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Assault Services Coordinator Michelle Harkey said.
While the agency can’t comment on the Hartsville case specifically, Harkey said a victim’s life can be shaped by what happens immediately after the incident.
“It has a lot to do with how the family and how the victim’s support system reacts,” she said. “If that therapy is not offered right at the moment, it could be a downward spiral.”
There are so many issues a sexually assaulted or sexual abused child has to deal with, she said.
If a victim is left untreated, it can lead to a greater risk of promiscuity later in life, unwanted pregnancies or medical problems.
It can even lead to the abused one day becoming an abuser, Harkey said.
“There is definitely a correlation between abused victims and them being an abuser,” she said.
While the Pee Dee Coalition is known for its domestic violence support group, it also has groups for victims of sex crimes.
The coalition’s Elizabeth Pettigrew Durant Children's Center offers services for child victims and has offices in Florence and Hartsville, Harkey said.
The Pee Dee Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Assault provides assistance and resources designed to help victims of these crimes and can be reached at (843) 669-4600 or (800) 273-1820.
The Durant Children’s Center can be reached at (843) 664-4357.
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