2 men arrested in string of burglaries

BRANDON NIKOLAS WRIGHT

By ROBERT BAKER
Item Staff Writer
bbaker@theitem.com

MANNING — Clarendon County sheriff's deputies arrested two Manning men Monday thought to be involved in no less than six burglaries at homes throughout the county.

Ethan Lavern Stone, 19, of 1128 Santefe Drive; and Brandon Nikolas Wright, 17, of 1332 Lakewood Drive, were each charged with burglary and breaking and entering after allegedly stealing more than $7,500 worth of property from homes in Manning, Summerton and New Zion between Oct. 12 and Nov. 1, authorities said.

According to sheriff's office reports, the string of burglaries began sometime between Oct. 12 and Oct. 24. On the latter date, a 48-year-old man living in the 1100 block of Brantley Avenue in Manning reported that when he returned home to find his rear door open, he was missing a 16-gauge double-barrel shotgun, a Remington rifle, a Ruger rifle, a Dell laptop computer and a Sentry lockbox containing important personal documents, altogether valued at about $3,300.

ETHAN LAVERN STONE

Clarendon County Sheriff Randy Garrett said Tuesday that Wright and Stone were likely involved in several burglaries in the county, including:

  the Oct. 23 burglary of a home in the 4300 block of Juneburn Road in Manning, taking a Compaq laptop and a chocolate pearl necklace and a wishbone diamond necklace, all valued at $2,300;

  the Oct. 23 break-in of a home in the 9400 block of Black River Road in New Zion, leaving its contents in disarray;

  the Oct. 24 burglary of a home in the 6100 block of Newman Branch Road in New Zion, taking a box of personal checks;

  the Thursday break-in of a home in the 3400 block of William Brunson Road in Summerton, stealing two shotguns and seven rifles valued at $2,250;

Garrett said Wright and Stone were also thought to have broken into a home in the 1200 block of Hammond Road in Summerton between about Oct. 24 and Sunday, taking various tools valued at about $150.

"Of course, they did all of this through about the last three weeks," Garrett said. "We've put about nine people in jail for break-ins in the past few weeks. This is about the last round of them right here."

Garrett said a traffic stop aided his deputies in catching Stone and Wright.

"We tracked down a weapon that was seized in a traffic stop, and the weapon came back stolen from a home where we had break-ins," Garrett said. "From there, investigators were able to get them."

Garrett said deputies were able to recover most of the stolen property and weapons.

Stone and Wright are being held at the Clarendon County Detention Center in Manning.



Contact Staff Writer Robert Baker at bbaker@theitem.com or (803) 435-8511.