Last Updated on 12/1/2008

Published on 8/27/2008

Another rash of gang-like vandalism was reported to Georgetown police last week.
On the night of Aug. 17, several businesses within the city were spray painted with various gang signs.
The letters “HBK,” meaning Hoover’s Blood Killers, were painted in front of Badcock Furniture on North Fraser Street. Symbols meaning “Crips up” and “Bloods down” as well as a “crudely painted broken five-pointed star” were painted in the same area, the report states.
Other graffiti, including “CRP for life,” was painted in other areas of the Winyah Plaza.
Similar vandalism was reported at People’s Barber on North Merriman Road, Insurance Savers of South Carolina on Highmarket Street, Carolina Furniture on Highmarket Street, Hair Q on Highmarket Street and on a utility box at the corner of Highmarket and Merriman.
The Sheriff’s Office was notified that the same type of graffiti was found at the old Eagle Electric building on Highway 17 South in Maryville.

Georgetown Police
On Aug. 21, an 18-year-old man from Longs said he was robbed at gunpoint by two people who are reportedly members of the Crips gang.
The man said he parked his car at Carolina Charm on Church Street and was going to meet a woman whose number he got from Vibe magazine. He said when he couldn’t find the house, he asked a juvenile who was in the street. The teen showed him where the house was and gave him a warning.
“They are always robbing people. They are the Crips,” the teen said before walking away, the report states.
The victim said he decided to return to his car but was approached by two men with a gun who told him to turn away. One of the men punched the victim on the face and ordered him to the ground.
They then went through his pockets and took his cell phone, wallet, watch and necklace.
The men were wearing dark hoods and bandannas, the victim said.
The area was searched but the suspects were not located.
• A 34-year-old Oak Street man — armed with a knife and turkey meat — was arrested after allegedly causing a disturbance at the Georgetown Library on Cleland Street.
A library staff member said the man was playing his music too loud and got mad when he was told to turn it down. When he was asked to leave, he said the worker would have to call the police to make him leave.
When the officer arrived, the man reportedly began yelling at him inside the library. He allegedly began calling the officer names. When he was told he was being arrested, the man reportedly said the officer would have to fight him because he “knew (his) rights.”
After continuing to disobey the commands to place his hands behind his back, the man was shot with the officer’s Taser.
He fell to the ground and continued to resist, so he was shot with a second Taser blast. The officers then cuffed the man and took him  outside, where he was searched.
Inside his pockets was a butterfly knife and four packs of ground turkey meat.
It was later learned the meat came from the Maryville Food Lion. A manager said he was unsure if the turkey came from inside the store or from a Dumpster behind the business.
The man was charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and carrying a concealed weapon.
• A burglary was reported at Variety Discount on King Street Aug. 19. A passerby noticed the front window of the business was shattered. When police and the owner arrived, it was discovered the cash register was gone.
Also taken was a $12 pair of sunglasses and some ice cream from a cooler.
A water meter cover — used to break the window — was found inside.
On Sunday, a burglary was reported at Kudzu Bakery, also on King Street.
The cash registers inside the store were open and police saw loose change all over the floor. It’s believed about $20 was taken.
• About $1,800 worth of copper wire was stolen from the City of Georgetown Utilities Department.
A manager said he thinks workers may have been stealing the copper and selling it at scrapyards.
He said he was told a city worker had taken some copper to a recycler the day after copper was noticed missing.

Sheriff’s Office
A 25-year-old Georgetown man said his 21-year-old girlfriend got mad when she found pictures and text messages from his former girlfriend in his cell phone. He said she decided to move out. Before she left she — according to her boyfriend — broke a mirror in the bedroom.
The woman told deputies it was an accident. She said she threw a brush down on the counter and it bounced up causing the mirror to shatter.
• An attendant at the County Recycling Center on Highway 701 near Plantersville said a woman stopped by Aug. 16 to dump trash. The attendant asked her to place her trash at the back of the Dumpster so the front would not fill up as fast.
The woman refused to do so and began yelling and cursing at the attendant.
The man said he did not want to press charges but wanted a report on file because the woman “did not need to be showing herself in public like she was.”
• Two men, ages 18 and 19, said they were walking to 521 Mini Mart Aug. 20 when a 23-year-old Georgetown man approached them and made threats. At one point, the man drove his car off the road in an apparent attempt to hit them.
They said if they had not moved as fast as they did, they would have been hit. They said the man was upset because they had been talking to his girlfriend.

Compiled by Scott Harper