Windsor pleads guilty

Former deacon who held up Greenville First in February now awaits sentencing

OCTOBER 1, 2009 6:19 a.m. (0)

In a three-page typewritten note he handed to a Greenville First Bank employee last February, Bruce Windsor said the bank was surrounded by men with AK-47s who were prepared for “all hell to break loose.”

Windsor, a former church deacon, pleaded guilty to bank robbery and brandishing a weapon during the commission of a violent crime in federal court in Spartanburg on Thursday.

Windsor, who was the only person involved in the crime, held two bank employees hostage for about an hour and a half. Another bank employee hid under a desk.  Continue reading...

 

Greer police say crime is down

Victor Mill neighborhood posts lowest numbers

APRIL 2, 2010 8:30 a.m. (0)

Three people showed up for Greer Police Department’s meeting on crime and issues Tuesday night, which was probably more a testament to the standing of longtime city Councilwoman Sandra Anderson than apathy.

She died Tuesday.  Continue reading...

 

Wanted:

Money, revenge and embarrassment prompt calls about county’s most wanted

AUGUST 26, 2010 10:36 a.m. (0)

“Is he worth some money?” the voice on the other end of the phone asked Tony Lee, the coordinator of Crime Stoppers of Greenville County.

“He” was Steven Edward Janes, a 49-year-old Greenville man Lee had put on the organization’s “Most Wanted” list four days earlier.

Janes had racked up 19 charges stemming back to the beginning of April, when he began working as a handyman for a Greenville woman. He is accused of taking jewelry, electronics and money from her home. And police say he broke into another Greenville home in May and made off with more than $2,400 in money and jewelry.  Continue reading...

 

Beating under investigation

Homeless man dies after incident, investigators have no suspects

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010 10:16 a.m. (0)

One week after the death of a homeless man who was found severely beaten and unresponsive last Tuesday morning off West Blue Ridge Drive near Cedar Lane Road in Greenville County, investigators have no suspects.

Terry Steven White, 55, died last Thursday at Greenville Memorial Hospital after lingering for two days in critical condition.

He never regained consciousness.  Continue reading...

 

Crime vs. character

New program aims to teach youth what really matters in life

SEPTEMBER 29, 2010 10:51 a.m. (0)

The percentage of crimes committed by children in Greenville County has increased steadily since 2005.

Youngsters between the ages of 10 and 17 over the past decade have been responsible on average each year for about a third of the arson, vandalism and sex offense cases prosecuted by law enforcement officials, FBI arrest records show.

Juveniles in that age group are charged in nearly a fourth of all property crimes cases, officials said.  Continue reading...

 

Why would a mother leave her newborn son in a public restroom?

FEBRUARY 10, 2011 12:35 p.m. (1)

As a student at Bob Jones Academy, Jessie Blackham talked about how much she loved kids. She told stories about her niece and carried pictures of the girl in her wallet.

Now 24, Blackham has been charged with felony child abuse after giving birth to a boy at the Bi-Lo Center last Friday night and leaving him in the toilet.

“I’m shocked that she would do that. She was always very good with children,” said Taryn Habegger, a classmate of Blackham’s throughout elementary and high school who has kept up with her on Facebook. “I’m shocked that anybody would do that.”  Continue reading...

 

Police crack cold case

Victim’s family: ‘We thought this day would never come’

APRIL 4, 2011 10:11 a.m. (0)

Thirty-three Thanksgivings ago, Thomas George Bikas was walking home from a bar when he was beaten to death and robbed.

He was found two doors from home.

On Monday, Greenville Police Chief Terri Wilfong announced that two men have been arrested and charged with murder and strong-arm robbery in the case.  Continue reading...

 

From tragedy comes good

Clemson University focuses on safety and prevention

JUNE 30, 2011 11:18 a.m. (0)

In the years since Clemson student Tiffany Souers was murdered university officials and students have focused more on campus safety and resulted in a corresponding reduction of certain crimes.

Vice President for Student Affairs at Clemson, Gail DiSabatino said, “I do believe at the time which one of our students was murdered off-campus there was a heightened awareness of the importance of individual student responsibility to take safety precautions such as locking their doors and not walking alone at night.”

Clemson University Security Captain Eric Hendricks agreed, “The publicity that came from that tragedy made students more aware.”  Continue reading...

 

22 Women Gone

The Journal investigates female murder victims and the growing number of husband/boyfriend perpetrators

OCTOBER 10, 2011 11:28 a.m. (0)

Traci Grant died sitting in a kitchen chair in her Simpsonville home.

Shivani Boparai’s six-year-old son showed officers to a bathroom, where he found his mother stabbed to death.

Allison Cross died with her mother in a bedroom of her mother’s home.  Continue reading...

 

State high court to hear Inman case

Jerry Inman was sentenced to death for killing a Clemson student

SEPTEMBER 15, 2011 12:01 p.m. (0)

South Carolina’s Supreme Court will hear arguments on Wednesday in the appeal of the man who pleaded guilty to raping and killing a Clemson University student in 2006 and was sentenced to death.

Jerry Buck Inman, who told the judge he wanted to die for the murder of Tiffany Souers, is appealing his guilty plea and sentence.

Inman contends his guilty plea was conditional because his defense counsel maintained that Inman was entitled to be sentenced by a jury despite of his plea. In addition, the appeal contends the judge should have declared a mistrial because prosecutorial misconduct based on the solicitor’s treatment of the defense’s expert witness.  Continue reading...

 

‘Bath salts’ latest trend in drug abuse

Legally-sold product is more dangerous than any illegal drug except meth

OCTOBER 7, 2011 10:54 a.m. (9)

Bath salts sound innocent enough, but local drug abuse officials say the legally sold synthetic drugs are more dangerous than any illegal drug except methamphetamine and they’re here in the Upstate.

“It’s intense, it’s very fast acting and it’s cheap,” said Bill Coon, manager of the men’s treatment program at Pavillon, a private, nonprofit drug treatment center in Greenville and Asheville. “That’s a dangerous combination.”

Carol Reeves, executive director of the Greenville Family Partnership, said the Upstate is in the early stage of the latest designer drug that is popular with people in their late teens and early- to mid-20s.  Continue reading...