Darlington man sentenced in 2005 armed robbery

U.S. District Judge R. Bryan Harwell has sentenced a Darlington man to seven years in prison for using a firearm in the commission of an armed robbery, U.S. Attorney W. Walter Wilkins said in a press release.

On June 11, 2005, Jeffery Arden Sandifer robbed the Markette at 104 Cashua Ferry Road in Darlington by pointing a gun at an employee outside of the business, forcing her inside and demanding money from the register. The manager of the store realized the store was being robbed and was able to give police a description of the suspect. Sandifer, 42, had a loaded pistol and stolen cash in his vehicle when he was apprehended a short time after the robbery.

The case was investigated by the Darlington Police Department, the Darlington County Sheriff’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Rose Mary Parham of the Florence office prosecuted the case as part of Project CeaseFire, an initiative of the U.S. Attorneys Office that seeks to aggressively prosecute gun-related crimes.