TABOR-LORIS TRIBUNE WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 2012 PAGE 3

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astCompiled byAl Leonard

Town ManagerTown of Tabor City

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March 21, 1979

Phone survey favoring Tabor-Whiteville EAS The survey by mail of telephone subscribers in the Tabor City and Whiteville telephone exchanges is near-ing completion. 86.9 percent of the Tabor City ballots were for discontinuing long distance calls between Whiteville and Tabor City. Whiteville subscribers gave a 75.9 percent approval to ending the long distance calls. The Chambers of Com-merce of both municipalities have endorsed Extended Area Service (EAS).

of his driveway, likely both, opened fire from the car as he approached to see what they were doing in the neigh-borhood. Thompson said he was shot at while in his vehicle, and while on foot running, with bullets hitting close

enough to spatter dirt on his legs, all while his girlfriend and small children were in his nearby home. A deputy recovered 9mm shell casings from the drive-way, and Thompson said he found a .45 caliber shell casing after the deputy left.

Bondsmen (Continued from Page 1)

bus maintenance person-nel changed tires, scraped paint, and a contractor began the job of replacing windows. Replacing windows was delayed by a lack of resourc-

es, though all repairs were complete by this week.

“A lot of that glass is tinted,” Rushing said. “They just don’t have that much available immediately.”

Vandalism

The dog did itA dog underfoot caused an auto crash that splintered a Progress Energy light pole that also carried telephone and cable TV lines about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Lt. Richard Kosloski of the Tabor City Police Department said. Temperance Buffkin, 23, of Fair Bluff Road, told police that her puppy got caught up underfoot as she drove in the 100 block of Barry Street, causing her 2002 Honda Accord to swerve into the poll. Damage to the car was estimated at $2,000. Replacing the pole and rehanging the utility lines was expected to cost about $8,000, Kosloski said. (Deuce Niven photo)

4 charges, 1 still sought for shots

Bullets miss children

By DEUCE NIVEN Four arrests were made Monday, with a fifth suspect sought, in a weekend shooting where gunfire narrowly missed two small children and a man in a car on West 6th Street, Lt. Richard Kosloski of the Tabor City Police Department said. Police continued looking Tuesday for a fifth suspect, Jeffry Antwan Billings, 30, who last listed a South Bay Street address, Capt. Dean Foley said. He is charged in a warrant obtained by Det. Christopher Hilburn with felony shooting into an occupied vehicle. Arrested by Kosloski Mon-day, and facing the same charg-es, were:• Terrell Billings, 23, of South Bay Street, Jeffry’s cousin.• Jimmy Wayne Billings, 50, also of South Bay Street, Ter-rell’s father.• XavierRashawn“RayRay”Hemingway, 17, of McCrimmon Extension.• David Kadeen Hemingway, 20, Xavier’s brother, also of McCrimmon Extension. All four men arrested Mon-day were released from the Columbus County Detention Center in Whiteville after post-ing bonds of $15,000 each.

Narrow misses Lilly Janealle Stephens, 21, of Williams Road, Clarendon, told Officer Michael Jameson that she was travelling on West 6th Street about 8:30 p.m. Sun-day, with her two 18-month old babies in the back seat, Dean-gelo Lewis, 25, of Queen Street, seated in the front seat. Stephens she had picked up Lewis, who is her children’s uncle, and that a group of men were standing at Corey Johnson’s home in the 200 block of West 6th Street as she approached in a rented 2012 Toyota. When Lewis saw the men, he told Stephens to “speed up,” the report said. Both Stephens and Lew-

is told police that the men “stepped out into the road and began shooting at the vehicle,” the report said. “They stated that they were unsure as to how many shots were fired but that one did make impact with the rear window and exited out the front windshield.” Chief Donald Dowless said it appeared that Lewis escaped injury because his seat was re-clined. The bullet entered and exited on the passenger side of the car, apparently passing over the head of one of the children. Stephens told police that she drove away to take her children out of harms way. Police went to West 6th Street, and recovered 12 9mm shell cas-ings “in the exact location that Ms. Stephens and Mr. Lewis indicated,” the report said. Shell casings were found in the roadway, on the side of the road in front of First Baptist Missionary Church, and in Johnson’s driveway. Damage to the car was listed at $600, $300 each for the front and rear windows.

Attempted murder suspect Jeffrey Billings is currently free on bond and awaiting trial on an attempted murder charge in Horry County. A grand jury last June in-dicted Jeffry Billings, who had been arrested in February 2010 in the October 2009 case. Jeffry Billings is accused of firing a handgun into a Bennett Loop home near Loris about 2 a.m. on Oct. 16, 2009, striking a sleeping James Louis Taste, then 51, in the leg. He was re-leased from the J. Reuben Long Detention Center near Conway after posting bond of $50,000. Under terms of his release, Jeffry Billings should be wear-ing a GPS anklet that tracks his location, Capt. Foley said. Tabor City police had not, on Tuesday, been able to attempt to use that GPS tracking to locate Jeffry Billings, Foley said.

Arson suspect caught on videoBy DEUCE NIVEN

Police believe they have video evidence showing a sus-pect in an intentional fire that forced the evacuation of the Hill’s grocery store in Loris on Saturday, a Loris Police Depart-ment report says. A “large amount of smoke” filled the Broad Street store as Officer Matt Mahon responded to the 3:20 p.m. call Saturday, his report said. “Several customers exited the store with breathing prob-lems due to smoke inhalation,” Mahon wrote. It was not clear if any of the customers required medical at-

tention. McLeod Loris spokes-woman Celeste Bondurant Bell said Tuesday that there were no reports of anyone from the store seeking medical attention at the local emergency room.Bathroom fire Store manager Chris Floyd told Mahon that he smelled something from the men’s restroom in the store, opened the door, “and a large amount of smoke came out.” Dylan Wilkie, a store em-ployee, put the fire out with an extinguisher. Loris Fire De-partment members responded, and used a fan to ventilate the building, the report said.

Surveillance video caught “a young black male wearing a white shirt with a design on the front, blue shorts, and grey sneakers with red laces” enter-ing the bathroom at 3:02 p.m., and walking out a minute later, the report said. Fire was apparently set atop the commode. The report noted “charred material” found on top of the commode, with damage to the wall behind the fixture. Damage was listed at $100. Anyone with information on the fire, or the suspect, is asked to contact the Loris Police De-partment.

Loris woman admits $1M embezzlement A Loris woman has admitted taking $1 million through an identity theft and credit card fraud scheme, racking up debt to a Myrtle Beach firm during a four-year period, U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles said Thursday. Shawna Michelle Holmes, 36, entered a guilty plea in U.S. District Court in in Florence on Tuesday to use of an unauthor-ized access device (company credit cards), and aggravated identity theft, before District Judge R. Bryant Harwell. Harwell accepted the plea, and will impose sentence af-ter he reviews a presentence report to be prepared by the U.S. Probation Office. Holmes could be sent to fed-eral prison for ten years, fined $150,000, or both. She could also be charged a “special assess-ment” of $100.

Ten vehicles Evidence presented as Holmes changed her previous not-guilty plea showed that she used eight Bargain Beachwear credit cards, where she was employed, and a credit card of one of the Myrtle Beach firm’s co-owners, to make $1 million in purchases between August 2006 and September 2010. Holmes added her name to the credit cards, and made purchases for numerous items including ten vehicles, joining a health club, and paying her husband’s taxes. Holmes altered Bargain Beachwear records to make it appear the charges were for inventory purchases. U.S. Secret Service agents investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney William E. Day II handled the case.

Two inmates at the Tabor Cor-rectional Institution saw their prison terms lengthened while in court in Whiteville recently, including an armed robbery sus-pect who cursed the judge in open court. Brian Eugene Sifford Jr., 35, serving a term from Rowan Coun-ty for armed robbery, had 30 days added to his prison sentence after his courtroom encounter with Superior Court Judge Douglas Sasser. Sifford, determined to get a continuance in his case of as-sault on a prison employee, got his continuance, but it cost him the added prison term. Judge Douglas Sasser refused to grant Sifford a continuance, and after Sifford muttered and cursed while his attorney David Tedder talked with Sasser, the judge issued a 30-day prison term for Sifford for cursing during an argument with Sasser in open court. Sifford was upset when he learned the 30 days were added to his term, and not concurrent, and cursed several other times. Sifford told a bailiff as he was being led into the courtroom that he was going get a continuance so he could have a defense witness in court. Sifford’s proposed release date, before the 30-day term, was in April 2020. He has an extensive list of infractions in prison, including the assault on the employee. He’s charged with reaching through the bars and slapping the face of David Prince while Prince was serving meals on July 2010. Sifford was given 120 days, recommended by a District Court judge, to begin at the expiration of his prison term, and appealed the judgment. Sifford’s assault case is now set for May 14.

Marijuana charge Laron Chez Eason Jr., 24, serving a term for first-degree burglary from Northampton County, pleaded on April 13 in District Court to possession of a controlled substance (marijuana), and was given an additional 120 days in prison. Eason’s projected release date was October 2017 before the addi-tional 120 days. He was arrested on the marijuana charge two months ago.

– Bob High, The News Reporter

TCI inmates handed more prison time

A Pireway Road man has been charged with tamper-ing with a utility meter, ac-cused of bypassing a town owned water meter, Tabor City Police Department reports show.

John Weston Tyler, 27, was arrested Sunday by Lt. Ronnie Carroll on a war-rant obtained by Capt. Dean Foley, and charged with

Water meter tampering chargedinterfering with a utility meter. Public Works Director Mitchell Fowler told Foley that the meter was bypassed on two occasions, the report said, though the warrant indicates one incident, oc-curring between April 18 and 20. Tyler was released under a $500 unsecured bond.

– Deuce Niven

Rape arrests follows traffic stop A statutory rape charge was leveled against a Tabor City area man on Thursday. Jonathan Elgin Long, 23, of Shug Norris Road, was charged on a warrant obtained by Det. Rene Trevino of the Columbus County Sheriff ’s Office with statutory rape. He is accused in the warrant of having sex with a 15-year-old female, who was not legally of age to give consent, who was at least six years younger than Long, and

was not lawfully married to him. Long was arrested after Of-ficer Christopher Cotton of the Tabor City Police Department conducted a traffic stop and learned of the outstanding warrant, a report by Officer Jeff Grainger said. Following the arrest, officers searched Long, who was found in possession of suspect mari-juana, the report said. Long also admitted to having a handgun

concealed in his 1999 Cadillac. Long was charged with car-rying a concealed weapon and possession of marijuana. Po-lice seized the gun, the suspect marijuana, and more than $480 in cash Long was carrying, the report said. Long was jailed at the Columbus County Detention Center in Whiteville under bonds that totaled $25,500.

- Deuce Niven

Police seek man who brought gun to fight Law officers are looking for a man witnesses said had a gun during a fight outside Tabor Villa Apartments last week, a Tabor City Police Department report says. Officers found a crowd when responding to the 4 p.m. call last Monday, and tried to chase down one of the men allegedly fighting after witnesses said he had a gun, the report by Lt. Ronnie Carroll said. After the man ran into the woods on Woodrow Street, Shaneil Lanai Boone, 19, told

police that the man had asked to use her cell phone, and that when she asked him to return it the man “started shouting at her, showing a pistol in his belt.” When an older model Lin-coln pulled up, the man and several other men began to argue. Boone said the man also took her keys, then fled as police ap-proached. A witness told police that the man might have been someone she named from Loris.

Elsewhere Other reports on file at the Tabor City Police Department include:• Boecepheuous BeamonBuffkin, 28, of James B. White Hwy, was charged by Lt. Carroll Sunday with assault on a female and communicating threats, accused of striking the head of Angela Nichole Phillips, 23, of the same address, and of threatening to cut her if she called police, in an incident at their home.

- Deuce Niven