Beaufort County men face charges in connection with Charleston County

Two Beaufort County men were arrested on charges out of Charleston County on Friday evening.

Malik Bennett, 20, of St. Helena Island and Ikeem Powell, 22, of Lady’s Island face charges of conspiracy to commit armed robbery and are being detained in the Beaufort County Detention Center until they can be transferred to Charleston County, according to the jail’s online records.

The two Beaufort County men — and a third who is a resident of North Charleston — are suspected to have planned an armed robbery of a Dollar General store on Jan. 15, according to reports and affidavit documents provided by the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office. The three men allegedly pulled into a Dollar General store several times in one night in a car with its headlights off, with only minutes between each visit and without purchasing anything. During a traffic stop soon after the suspicious activity, deputies found gloves, masks and a stolen pistol.

A recent rash of armed robberies of Dollar General stores throughout the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office jurisdiction involved three men wearing white gloves and black masks, similar to those found in the Jan. 15 traffic stop, according to the documents. There is not yet evidence directly connecting Bennett and Powell to the other armed robberies, according to a Sheriff’s Office news release.

U.S. Marshals Office and Sheriff’s Office deputies served Bennett and Powell with arrest warrants at the Sams Point Way Food Lion on Lady’s Island, according to a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office report.

This story was originally published February 21, 2017 at 11:38 AM with the headline "Beaufort County men face charges in connection with Charleston County."