‘I’ll be the next Hitler’: Threatening text messages sent to Hilton Head woman, police say

A woman in Hilton Head Plantation told Beaufort County Sheriff’s deputies that she received a series of harassing text messages from an ex-boyfriend on Nov. 5.

“I’ll be the next Hitler mark my words...” one text read, according to a Sheriff’s Office report.

“Don’t worry an attack will be placed soon ... not towards you but towards innocent people,” read another text, the report said.

The incident was among about a dozen investigated by deputies in various Hilton Head communities between Nov. 5 and Nov. 12, according to incident reports provided to The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette under the state Freedom of Information Act.

Besides threatening messages, the incidents included stolen property and domestic violence. Here’s some of what happened in those communities, according to incident reports:

Hilton Head Plantation

The woman who reported receiving threatening messages told deputies her ex-boyfriend kept trying to contact her two weeks after they broke up.

The woman feared he would bring harm to someone in her family, claiming he was trying to get back at her. She requested that deputies inform him that she wanted no further contact with him, and that he was not allowed in her home or her family’s.

A deputy reviewed a number of threatening text messages on the woman’s cell phone toward others and himself.

“Knowing that I will never have your love again makes me want to kill myself the slowest way possible,” one text said. “I’m leaving for good,” read another.

The woman was advised to contact the Sheriff’s Office if she received any other calls or messages from her ex-boyfriend, and was given information on how to obtain a restraining order. Hilton Head Plantation security was told that the man was not welcome at her home.

When the deputy contacted the ex-boyfriend, he said he was no longer having suicidal thoughts and claimed he did not literally mean any of his text messages. Rather, he contended, the messages were “metaphorical and emotional in nature,” and that he was “trying to get a point across.” He said he understood he could no longer contact his ex-girlfriend.

The text messages were placed into evidence, but no charges were filed.

* * *

A woman reported her ex-husband came to her Charlesfort Place home about 10 p.m. on Nov. 11 while drunk and became verbally abusive with her. He then grabbed her forearm and pushed her to the ground.

She told deputies she was fearful and scared for her safety.

The woman said her ex-husband took her car shortly after arriving. The woman and her mother went to retrieve the car from Bluffton, where the man took it, the next morning.

The woman said the incident wasn’t he first time the man has become abusive with her, noting that heavy drinking “greatly exacerbates his angry outbursts.”

When deputies spoke with the man, he said he had “a couple of beers at a bar,” and that he had a verbal dispute when he returned to the home. He said afterward, he went to a female friend’s house in Bluffton and later awoke to find his vehicle was missing.

Deputies obtained a warrant and arrested the man on a charge of third-degree domestic violence. He was transported to the Beaufort County Detention Center.

The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette generally does not identify suspects charged with misdemeanor offenses.

Palmetto Dunes Resort

A man who told deputies he consumed alcohol and an unknown “orange pill” was arrested after he allegedly stole a keg cooler from the pool bar at the Marriott Resort and Spa. The cooler contained a Corona Light pony keg and several bottles of wine.

The cooler was discovered stolen Nov. 5 by a bartender for the Marriott Resort Pool Bar. There was damage to an ice well station behind the bar, reportedly caused by the suspect attempting to remove the cooler. Two computer covers and a pool chair cover were also missing.

The bartender said he located the metal drain tray of the keg cooler on the pool deck, and that the cooler was found near a fourth-floor room of the south tower of the hotel.

A housekeeper noted an older male had pushed the cooler out of the room. When the cooler was found, the pony keg inside was empty; the missing bottles of wine were later found in the suspect’s luggage by his father.

Hotel management checked surveillance cameras and found the suspect in a vehicle in the hotel parking lot with another man, a woman and a child.

When confronted by deputies, the suspect was not “answering questions logically” and didn’t know where he was at or what day it was. As with the suspect, the other man in the car said he had consumed an unknown “orange pill,” but no alcohol. Both men were transported to Hilton Head Hospital by Hilton Head Fire Rescue.

The suspect’s father told deputies his son had informed him that a maintenance man was working on the cooler, who supposedly told his son he could have it because it was broken. The father said he didn’t believe his son’s story.

The suspect was placed under arrest for petit larceny, but because of his “grossly intoxicated state,” he was issued a courtesy summons and released from the hospital to his father.

Sea Pines

A woman reported her black wallet that contained her Georgia driver’s license and multiple credit cards was stolen from her purse at the Salty Dog Cafe on South Sea Pines Drive.

She said she last saw the items at the restaurant, and the next morning, she found they were missing from her purse.

The woman went back to the restaurant to ask if her wallet had been turned in, but staff told her no one had done so. Deputies advised her to cancel all credit cards, which she said she had already done.

Port Royal Plantation

A couple rode their bicycles to Wimbledon Court to meet with a real estate agent, and when they returned to their bikes, one was missing.

The man was unsure if he locked his bike, valued at $1,500. He was advised to contact the Sheriff’s Office when he obtained the serial number for his bike.

This story was originally published November 21, 2017 at 2:40 PM with the headline "‘I’ll be the next Hitler’: Threatening text messages sent to Hilton Head woman, police say."