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Irregular News for 09.08.06
Mount Pleasant, FL -- Several members of Wando High School's football team are accused of helping rob a Food Lion supermarket at gunpoint in a heist that also involved three other students, authorities said.
Two of the students also are charged with committing a Labor Day holdup at a Subway restaurant and stealing a $35,000 BMW coupe with the help of a recent Wando graduate, police said.
The arrests stunned students and staff at Charleston County's largest school as they prepared for Friday's much-anticipated match-up between the Wando Warriors and regional powerhouse Summerville High School. Both teams have a 2-0 record.
Among those charged as an accessory in the Aug. 26 Food Lion holdup is Michael Dawley, the Warriors' 16-year-old starting quarterback and a grandson of Chuck Dawley, a former Mount Pleasant police chief and former Charleston County sheriff , authorities said.
Michael Dawley and the other players could miss not only Friday's game but the entire football season. All of the students who were arrested have been suspended from participating in school functions and extra-curricular activities until the charges against them are resolved, said Jerry Adams, a school district spokesman.
Adams said school officials need to investigate further before deciding whether to suspend the students from school and recommend them for expulsion.
"It's a disappointment to everybody," he said. "Any time a kid jeopardizes his future like this is just tragic."
Facing armed robbery and grand larceny charges are students Sean Shevlino, 16, and Michael Anthony, 17. Wando graduate Sean Deaton, 17, is charged with grand larceny and receiving stolen goods in connection with the car theft. Charged as accessories in the Food Lion robbery are Dawley and students Patrick Brown, 17; Sam Perez, 16; Graham Stolte, 16; Jackie Washington, 18; Max Hartwell, 16; and Vincent Weiner, 17, police said. They surrendered to police Wednesday night and are accused of serving as lookouts or drivers or in other supporting roles during the crime, police said. All are charged as adults.
Brown, Washington, Weiner and Stolte are defensive backs for the Warriors. Washington also played running back. Hartwell is a linebacker and Perez is a defensive lineman.
In bond court Wednesday night, the handcuffed teens sat together, some burying their faces in their hands. Dozens of family members were present with several standing in the hallway.
Jerry Theos, attorney for Dawley, said all of the boys are cooperating with investigators.
"They're good families, good kids. This is completely out of character," he said. "It would be an injustice for people to rush to judgment."
Wando junior Martha Burwell said she was angry and ashamed that the arrests involved Wando students. "Knowing that it's people at our school just makes me mad," she said.
No one was harmed in the crime spree, which began with the holdup at Food Lion on South Morgans Point. A man wearing an orange mask and carrying a pistol walked into the store and ordered an employee to open the safe. The gunman loaded an undetermined amount of money into a duffel bag and fled, police said.
The second crime was reported Sunday, when an Oakhaven subdivision resident woke to find his unsecured BMW missing from his driveway, along with his briefcase and a $5,000 laptop computer, police said. He had left the items, along with a car key, inside the vehicle, police said.
The following day, a masked man walked into a Subway on Coleman Boulevard and ordered employee Rashed Ali to open the cash register. Ali, 21, said he thought it might be a practical joke until the robber pulled out a pistol.
"I opened the drawer and he just took the whole thing and walked out. He didn't say a word," Ali said. "I was shocked. This is Mount Pleasant. Nothing like this ever happens here."
The case against the students began to build Tuesday morning when an anonymous phone call jump-started the police investigation into the crimes, Detective Cpl. Tony Winsted said. The tipster told police that the briefcase stolen with the BMW could be found in a Dumpster in the Old Village area. The caller also named one of the students as a potential suspect in the theft, he said.
One name led to another and another after that, widening the circle of suspects, Winsted said. As investigators questioned students throughout the day, details emerged linking all three crimes to the Wando group, he said.
The suspects are "just a bunch of kids who know each other and run in the same crowd," Winsted said. What prompted the crimes is unclear, he said.
"We've just touched on what went on and haven't gone to the depths of why and what motivated everybody," he said.
Police have recovered a small amount of cash, the stolen car and a couple of other items, Winsted said. Investigators also seized a pistol and masks believed to be linked to the crimes, he said.
The investigation is continuing, and police have not ruled out the possibility that more suspects or crimes could be tied to the group, Winsted said.
Sarah Panther, who was working at Subway during the robbery, said she was relieved police had made arrests in the case. After hearing the robber's demand for cash, she ran to the back of the store and hid under a desk, fearful for her life. She remains shaken by the incident and plans to look for a new job, she said.
"I was so scared," she said. "I kept wondering, 'Is he going to shoot us? Is he going to kill us?' "
Mount Pleasant Mayor Harry Hallman, who was vacationing in Memphis, said he had been briefed on the situation. He said none of the suspects should expect any special treatment by the courts.
"All of us raise our children and hope for the best," he said. "I'm just totally disappointed in what I've heard so far."
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Mount Pleasant, FL -- Several members of Wando High School's football team are accused of helping rob a Food Lion supermarket at gunpoint in a heist that also involved three other students, authorities said.
Two of the students also are charged with committing a Labor Day holdup at a Subway restaurant and stealing a $35,000 BMW coupe with the help of a recent Wando graduate, police said.
The arrests stunned students and staff at Charleston County's largest school as they prepared for Friday's much-anticipated match-up between the Wando Warriors and regional powerhouse Summerville High School. Both teams have a 2-0 record.
Among those charged as an accessory in the Aug. 26 Food Lion holdup is Michael Dawley, the Warriors' 16-year-old starting quarterback and a grandson of Chuck Dawley, a former Mount Pleasant police chief and former Charleston County sheriff , authorities said.
Michael Dawley and the other players could miss not only Friday's game but the entire football season. All of the students who were arrested have been suspended from participating in school functions and extra-curricular activities until the charges against them are resolved, said Jerry Adams, a school district spokesman.
Adams said school officials need to investigate further before deciding whether to suspend the students from school and recommend them for expulsion.
"It's a disappointment to everybody," he said. "Any time a kid jeopardizes his future like this is just tragic."
Facing armed robbery and grand larceny charges are students Sean Shevlino, 16, and Michael Anthony, 17. Wando graduate Sean Deaton, 17, is charged with grand larceny and receiving stolen goods in connection with the car theft. Charged as accessories in the Food Lion robbery are Dawley and students Patrick Brown, 17; Sam Perez, 16; Graham Stolte, 16; Jackie Washington, 18; Max Hartwell, 16; and Vincent Weiner, 17, police said. They surrendered to police Wednesday night and are accused of serving as lookouts or drivers or in other supporting roles during the crime, police said. All are charged as adults.
Brown, Washington, Weiner and Stolte are defensive backs for the Warriors. Washington also played running back. Hartwell is a linebacker and Perez is a defensive lineman.
In bond court Wednesday night, the handcuffed teens sat together, some burying their faces in their hands. Dozens of family members were present with several standing in the hallway.
Jerry Theos, attorney for Dawley, said all of the boys are cooperating with investigators.
"They're good families, good kids. This is completely out of character," he said. "It would be an injustice for people to rush to judgment."
Wando junior Martha Burwell said she was angry and ashamed that the arrests involved Wando students. "Knowing that it's people at our school just makes me mad," she said.
No one was harmed in the crime spree, which began with the holdup at Food Lion on South Morgans Point. A man wearing an orange mask and carrying a pistol walked into the store and ordered an employee to open the safe. The gunman loaded an undetermined amount of money into a duffel bag and fled, police said.
The second crime was reported Sunday, when an Oakhaven subdivision resident woke to find his unsecured BMW missing from his driveway, along with his briefcase and a $5,000 laptop computer, police said. He had left the items, along with a car key, inside the vehicle, police said.
The following day, a masked man walked into a Subway on Coleman Boulevard and ordered employee Rashed Ali to open the cash register. Ali, 21, said he thought it might be a practical joke until the robber pulled out a pistol.
"I opened the drawer and he just took the whole thing and walked out. He didn't say a word," Ali said. "I was shocked. This is Mount Pleasant. Nothing like this ever happens here."
The case against the students began to build Tuesday morning when an anonymous phone call jump-started the police investigation into the crimes, Detective Cpl. Tony Winsted said. The tipster told police that the briefcase stolen with the BMW could be found in a Dumpster in the Old Village area. The caller also named one of the students as a potential suspect in the theft, he said.
One name led to another and another after that, widening the circle of suspects, Winsted said. As investigators questioned students throughout the day, details emerged linking all three crimes to the Wando group, he said.
The suspects are "just a bunch of kids who know each other and run in the same crowd," Winsted said. What prompted the crimes is unclear, he said.
"We've just touched on what went on and haven't gone to the depths of why and what motivated everybody," he said.
Police have recovered a small amount of cash, the stolen car and a couple of other items, Winsted said. Investigators also seized a pistol and masks believed to be linked to the crimes, he said.
The investigation is continuing, and police have not ruled out the possibility that more suspects or crimes could be tied to the group, Winsted said.
Sarah Panther, who was working at Subway during the robbery, said she was relieved police had made arrests in the case. After hearing the robber's demand for cash, she ran to the back of the store and hid under a desk, fearful for her life. She remains shaken by the incident and plans to look for a new job, she said.
"I was so scared," she said. "I kept wondering, 'Is he going to shoot us? Is he going to kill us?' "
Mount Pleasant Mayor Harry Hallman, who was vacationing in Memphis, said he had been briefed on the situation. He said none of the suspects should expect any special treatment by the courts.
"All of us raise our children and hope for the best," he said. "I'm just totally disappointed in what I've heard so far."
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