Three Richland County men and one woman were arrested on January 15 for Shoplifting a value of over $2,000.
On that date, alleged perpetrators, later identified as Donald Ward, Kasuan Simons and Shanta Hendrix, entered the Manning Walmart and went to the electronics department. The three allegedly stated they wished to purchase three cell phones. After being provided with the prices, the three stated they needed to go get more money, and they left the store.
10-15 minutes later, Ward and Simons returned and asked to look at iPhones. The sales associate opened the display case to let them see a phone. After placing the phone back in the display case, the two asked to see another phone. As the associate opened the display case again, she was pushed aside while the two allegedly stole 5 iPhones, also taking miscelaeous merchandise as they left the store.
According to video surveillance, the two left in a silver/grey 4-door Mercedes car, along with Hendrix and another man later identified as Saqwan Zorn.
One of the stolen phones had a tracking device. As the iPhone began to move away from the store, the tracking company was alerted. They called Walmart and were informed the phone had been stolen. The company worked with Law Enforcement to track the phone as it moved into Richland County. Law Enforcement Officers in Richland County were notified and informed of the vehicle's location. The Mercedes was stopped, and the four were arrested.
All stolen merchandise was recovered at the scene of the arrest. This included one fake iPhone box tracker, valued at $800; one space gray iPhone 6S 32GB, valued at $199; one space gray iPhone X 256GB, valued at $1,200; one white iPhone XR 64GB, valued at $799; and one headphone jack adapter, valued at $8.97, with a total value of $3,006.97. All merchandise has been released back to Walmart.
After the arrest, the four were transported back to Manning and were taken to the Clarendon County Detention Center. A bond hearing was held on January 16, and all four are out on $20,000 bond each while awaiting trial.
