A dog sitter dispute, drugs and theft among Hilton Head gated community reports

A dog was caught in the middle of a payment dispute that turned physical when its owner was picking it up from the dog sitter last week in Sea Pines.

According to a report filed with the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office on Dec. 22, a man had his dog in his arms when the dog sitter asked for payment at her Lake Forest Drive home.

The man said he would pay her after he went to the bank. The woman then grabbed the dog from him, and the two fell to the ground wrestling over the animal, the report said.

The woman said she would get her gun if he continued to struggle with her, according to the report. That’s when the man let go of his dog and called the police, the report said.

The incident was one of several dozen investigated by the Sheriff’s Office in various Hilton Head communities during the month of December, incident reports show.

Besides the fight over the dog, the reported incidents included thefts, drugs and harassing text messages. Here’s some of what happened in those communities, according to incident reports:

Sea Pines

When deputies arrived to break up the fight between the dog sitter and the dog owner, the woman said the man was “not fit” to care for the dog, and she did not want to give him the dog back until she was paid.

She was told she had to release the dog to its owner, and if he ended up not paying her, she could file a civil suit.

***

At about 2 p.m. on Dec. 17, a woman went to retrieve an envelope full of cash from a kitchen drawer in her Old Military Road home and found it was missing.

She said her mother, father and boyfriend are the only ones who had been in her home. She said she had not mentioned the money to them, and she did not think they would have taken it anyway.

She intended to use the money to purchase a vehicle, according to the report. The amount of money in the envelope was not disclosed.

She said a pest control company has unrestricted access to her home, but she didn’t know the last time an employee had been there. She reported she was not missing any other items, and that nothing seemed to be out of place in her home.

She told deputies she would pursue charges if a suspect is located.

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On Dec. 11, a Sea Pines Resort employee told deputies $1,500 in cash was stolen from The Quarterdeck restaurant. There were no signs of forced entry into the office or safe where the money was stored.

The man said five managers have access to the office and know the safe combination. However, the lock combination had not been changed in at least a year, and former employees would still know it, he said.

He did not suspect any current employees were responsible.

There were no cameras to monitor the office.

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Two small baggies containing an unknown white powder that appeared to be a narcotic were found by a Sea Pines security officer along Calibogue Cay Road on Dec. 15.

The security officer turned them over to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office. The baggies, along with two white napkins and a film canister, were submitted for destruction, according to a report.

Port Royal Plantation

On Dec. 13, a woman reported she was receiving unwanted text messages from an unknown number. The messages said her husband was having an affair with the person sending the texts, and that the woman had gonorrhea because the sender gave it to her husband.

The messages “continued antagonizing” the woman with random statements, according to an incident report.

The woman said she researched the number and traced it to Pinger.com, a cross-platform texting application. She reported the harassment to Pinger, and staff blocked the user’s number and advised her to file a report.

After an investigation, deputies discovered the text messages were coming from the woman’s half-brother, who said it was a practical joke. He said he had tried contacting his half-sister to let her know, but she had blocked his phone number.

When deputies told the woman what they found, she said she suspected it was her half-brother, and asked that he be notified that she did not want him contacting her anymore.

Hilton Head Plantation

While driving on Outerbridge Circle on Dec. 12, a man who works at The Cypress, a retirement community, saw one of the golf carts used by the facility’s housekeeping staff pull out of a driveway.

A male teenager was driving the cart, and a passenger of about the same age was with him. When the cart drove off, three other teenage males left the driveway, two on foot and one on a bicycle.

The man caught up and confronted the teenagers, who said they were going to take the golf cart back to the house. The man then grabbed the bike that one of the juveniles was riding, and all five teens fled toward Squire Pope Road, leaving the golf cart behind.

The man said he is willing to press charges if the suspects are identified.

Palmetto Dunes Resort

A man working in Palmetto Dunes found a black backpack in bushes on the side of Off Shore Drive on Dec. 13. When he picked up the bag to check for identification inside, he found a jar with marijuana in it and drug paraphernalia.

Deputies took the backpack and its contents and submitted it for disposal, according to a report.

Moss Creek

A woman reported on Dec. 20 that her wedding ring had been stolen.

She said she placed her ring on a stack of tiles in the garage around 3 p.m. to do some gardening. She said she forgot to put it back on and noticed it was missing about 10 that night.

The woman reported she had contracted with a construction company to remodel her home, and that several workers had access to her home while the ring was in the garage. She said she would press charges if deputies located the suspect.

The value of the ring was redacted in the incident report, but it was listed as either platinum or white gold with a diamond and sapphires.

Windmill Harbour

A woman reported her car had been broken into on Dec. 16. The only stolen item was a pair of black fleece gloves valued at $50. The woman said she filed a report because her property association instructed residents to call police if they were victims of theft because of a “string of break-ins in the community.”

Clarification: A section previously identifying an Indigo Run incident was removed after it was determined the Sheriff’s Office incorrectly identified the location in an incident report.

This story was originally published December 29, 2017 at 3:34 PM with the headline "A dog sitter dispute, drugs and theft among Hilton Head gated community reports."