Teenager gets suspended sentence for March 2014 home invasion

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A 19-year-old Manning man charged last year for a March 2014 home invasion in the 1600 block of Fleming Circle in Manning received two years in prison Tuesday in 3rd Circuit Court. 
Circuit Court Judge Robert E. Hood actually sentenced Demetrius Stephon Dingle of 1384 Tuttle Drive in Manning to six years in prison after the suspect pleaded guilty Tuesday to strong arm robbery in Clarendon County General Sessions court, but suspended the sentence to two years in prison to be followed by two years’ probation.
 Dingle was charged with first-degree burglary Aug. 10 after his arrest two days earlier on an unspecified charge, court records show. Deputies with the Clarendon County Sheriff’s Office then linked him to the home invasion from five months earlier.
 According to reports, Dingle and another unidentified male allegedly entered the Fleming Circle Home about 2 p.m. March 24 and demanded money from the home’s then-31-year-old resident.
 The woman told deputies that Dingle and the other suspect pushed her down the hallway of the apartment and continued to demand money while rifling through her bedroom. She said Dingle was armed, while the other suspect was not. She said the unarmed suspect was about 5-foot-6, with brown skin and a mini-afro. She said the man was also skinny, wearing a white T-shirt and dark blue jeans.
 During a bond hearing before 3rd Circuit Court Judge R. Ferrell Cothran in October 2014, Dingle repeatedly said through his attorney, Clarendon Public Defender Scott Robinson, that he had no idea who the other man was.
 Robinson told Cothran last year that his client has only a 10th grade education and was “forced at gunpoint into helping (in) the home invasion.”
 Inv. Eric Rosdail maintained that Dingle searched the house independently, used the word “we” in talking about the incident and hasn’t offered to ID the masked man. 
Third Circuit Assistant Solicitor Warren Anderson handled the case for the state.