McCOLL – McColl man arrested after stealing Christmas presents during a burglary and selling them.
According to Investigator Clay Anderson of the Marlboro County Sheriff’s Office, deputies were sent to a residence at 10 p.m. on Wednesday (Dec. 14) on Trails Edge Road in the McColl area about a burglary.
The homeowners told deputies with the Uniformed Patrol Division that when they returned home, they found the door had been forced open with the house rummaged through.
Anderson said they found the stolen items were the children’s presents under the Christmas tree inside the home.
On Thursday (Dec. 15), the MCSO’s Criminal Investigation Division received information that Richard Lee Johnson had already sold some of the stolen children’s Christmas presents. Anderson said the Criminal Investigation Division conducted a search warrant at a barn/building style home on Roosevelt Street in McColl and recovered most of the stolen Christmas presents (children’s clothes, toys, all new in box or with tags still attached).
Johnson, 47, of McColl, was arrested. Johnson was transported to the Marlboro County Detention Center, where he was charged with burglary first-degree, malicious damage to property, petit larceny, and receiving or possession of stolen property. Johnson was inside the barn during the search warrant and taken into custody.
Johnson was given a $109,000 surety bond by a Marlboro County Magistrate and will be required to wear a GPS monitor if he posts the bond.
Anderson said the MCSO would like to thank the public for helping with this case and remind anyone with any information about