Yemassee councilman arrested at Beaufort hotel on felony warrant out of Georgia
A Yemassee town councilman was arrested with 11 bags of suspected cocaine on him at a Beaufort hotel early Monday morning, according to a Beaufort Police Department report.
Charlie Simmons, 36, was booked into the Beaufort County Detention Center at 4 a.m. on a fugitive from justice charge stemming from two warrants out of Chatham County, Georgia.
One warrant was for a felony charge of aggravated assault, and the second was for a misdemeanor charge of simple battery.
Just before 2:30 a.m., officers responded to a call about a man and woman arguing in a room at the Home2 Suites by Hilton on Trask Parkway. When they arrived they found Simmons and a woman in the room.
The report says officers “observed a fresh bruise mark” on the woman’s cheek, but she told them it was an unrelated injury.
Simmons told police “nothing happened and they were just playing music loud,” the report says.
“Simmons refused to volunteer any additional information in regards to the incident but kept repeating that he paid good money for the hotel room and should be allowed to play loud music,” the officer wrote in the report.
Officers learned about the extradition warrant when they ran Simmons’ information through dispatch and arrested him.
Before placing Simmons in the patrol car, an officer searched him and found 11 bags of white powder totaling about 8.16 grams that “appeared to be alleged cocaine,” the report said.
Nine individually packaged baggies of the power were in a larger bag in one of his shorts pockets, a smaller single baggie was in another pocket, and an even smaller baggie was in his wallet, according to the report.
The alleged drugs were submitted for testing.
Simmons was still confined as of Monday morning, according to the jail log.
In November 2019, Simmons was arrested by the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office and charged with driving under the influence, according to previous reporting. Court documents show that his case was continued and the charge as still pending.
Simmons is currently serving his first term on council, Yemassee town clerk Matt Garnes confirmed Monday. Simmons’ term began in November 2017, and his seat will be up for re-election this November.
Yemassee officials declined to comment, deferring questions about the arrest to Beaufort Police.
The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette newspapers do not typically name those charged with misdemeanor crimes but are doing so in this case because Simmons holds a position of public trust.
This story was originally published August 2, 2021 at 9:32 AM.
