St. Helena Island man in custody after armed robbery of SC jewelry store
Two men, including a St. Helena Island man, are in jail and charged following a jewelry store armed robbery in downtown Sumter.
Sumter police say they were called at 11:30 a.m. Thursday to Kay Jewelers on Broad Street where two armed men wearing face coverings and latex gloves demanded that an employee open a showcase. The city is about 130 miles north of Beaufort.
The men then placed jewelry into a bag and fled , according to police.
Shaheym Dizaire Freeman, 25, of St. Helena Island, and Wayne Darrelle Pondexter, 27, of Eastover, were tracked down and arrested in Eastover, which is 30 miles west of Sumter, police said.
Investigators with Sumter police, Richland County Sheriff’s Department, Organgeburg County Department of Public Safety and Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office found the men based on a description of a vehicle seen leaving the parking lot at the time of the robbery, Sumter police said.
The suspects first traveled to an Eastover home, then drove to the Orangeburg area before returning to the Eastover residence where they were arrested, authorities said.
Freeman and Pondexter are being held in the Sumter County Detention Center. They are facing charges of armed robbery, kidnapping, possession of a weapon by a felon and criminal conspiracy, police said.
