Bond denied for SC ‘flight risk’ charged with thefts, flying away from Rock Hill airport
Judges are required to consider if a person accused of a crime is a flight risk when setting bail.
And there was no doubt Monday for visiting judge G.D. Morgan Jr. about a Greenville man’s risk of fleeing York County. The man, 36-year-old Nathaniel John Jenkins, faces 15 charges from electronics and equipment thefts at the Rock Hill/York County Airport in 2023 after landing a plane without lights, stealing from planes and hangars before fleeing the area, prosecutors said.
In York County court Monday, both sides in the case argued the issue of flight risk because the getaway vehicle was allegedly a plane.
“It’s the definition of a flight risk - literally a flight risk,” Morgan said in denying a lower bail amount.
Jenkins was arrested earlier this month and has been in the York County jail since Jan. 12 on a $420,000 bond. His lawyer requested a reduced bail amount.
Plane landed without notice: Prosecutor
Jenkins landed a plane at night at the small airport without transponders or lights before the thefts of thousands of dollars in GPS equipment, headsets, and other items, said prosecutor Heather Burdette of the 16th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.
Jenkins’ access to a plane means he could flee the country in hours, Burdette said in court.
Jenkins faces similar charges from an airport in Kentucky and has in-state pending charges in Greenville and Oconee counties, Burdette and Rock Hill Police Department Detective Darin Swiger said in court.
“No one knew he was flying,” Burdette said. “There was no one even working when he landed. I can’t think of more of a flight risk than someone with a plane.”
Jenkins faces charges of illegal damage to an airport or removing equipment, grand larceny, burglary, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
A juvenile co-defendant in the case is 17 years old, prosecutor Burdette said.
Defense: Suspect doesn’t own a plane
Jenkins doesn’t own a plane and there is no evidence of him going into a plane and removing anything, according to his lawyer, Karl Allen of Greenville.
Jenkins was not the pilot in the incidents and is not a pilot, Allen argued. Allen, a member of the S.C. Senate in the General Assembly, said the 17-year-old co-defendant in the cases was the pilot.
Jenkins deserves a lower bond and has not been convicted of any crime in York County, Allen argued.
“They think he (Jenkins) is a flight risk because he can fly,” Allen said.
No trial date has been set.
This story was originally published January 29, 2024 at 2:09 PM with the headline "Bond denied for SC ‘flight risk’ charged with thefts, flying away from Rock Hill airport."
