Crime reports from Sumter County Sheriff's Office
CRIMINAL SEXUAL CONDUCT
A teenager implicated a 34-year-old Sumter man in sexual battery at a Sumter residence in February, according to a news release from Sumter County Sheriff's Office.
The sheriff's office arrested Brandon Miles Ardis of Perry Boulevard on Tuesday, and he was charged with criminal sexual conduct with a minor after a warrant stated he engaged in sexual battery with a 15-year-old female on Silo Road on Feb. 22.
Forensic evidence and a written statement by the victim implicated Ardis in the case. Ardis was transported to Sumter County Sheriff's Office Detention Center and given a $25,000 surety bond and posted bond Tuesday.
CRUELTY TO CHILDREN
A Sumter man was arrested Wednesday and charged with cruelty to children after a 6-year-old sustained lacerations and bruising, according to a news release from Sumter County Sheriff's Office.
Akil Ricshon Benjamin, 37, of Congruity Road is suspected of striking the boy in the face, arm and back with a belt at a residence on Vernon Drive on or between March 8 and March 11.
Benjamin was transported to Sumter County Sheriff's Office Detention Center and given a $1,500 personal recognizance bond. He posted bond Wednesday.
FILING A FALSE REPORT
A Rembert man was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of lying to Sumter deputies about his vehicle, according to a news release from Sumter County Sheriff's Office.
Willie Levanial Alston, 59, of Leslie Drive was charged by the sheriff's office with filing a false report. Alston told deputies his 2001 Volkswagen Jetta, valued at about $1,000, was stolen from a lot on Leslie Drive on March 13.
Alston was transported to Sumter County Sheriff's Office Detention Center and given a $1,000 personal recognizance bond, which he posted Thursday.
FORGERY
A Hartsville woman was arrested in Sumter on Thursday after she was captured on a Sumter grocery store's surveillance video trying to cash a counterfeit check.
Donna Chavis Nutter, 43, of East Home Avenue in Hartsville, reportedly took a counterfeit check for $481.98 to a grocery store in the 1400 block of South Guignard Parkway on March 15 and received money and goods for that amount, according to Sumter County Sheriff's Office. She was charged with forgery, value less than $10,000.
Nutter was seen on store video with the check, and a Manning Police Department officer identified her in a similar incident in Manning.
She was transported to Sumter County Sheriff's Office Detention Center and given a $7,500 surety bond Friday morning.