SPARTANBURG HERALD-JOURNAL (on-line version)
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Spartanburg, South Carolina

November 05, 1992

Man Charged in Kidnapping, Attempted Rape

BLACKSBURG - A 25-year-old Blacksburg man was arrested Tuesday night in connection with the attempted rape of a pregnant church worker and the abduction of another woman.
Robert Lee Richards, of 604 W. Cherokee St., was arrested about 8 p.m. at West Cherokee and Calles streets near his house, said Blacksburg police Chief Wayne Elder. Richards was charged with kidnapping and attempted criminal sexual conduct as a result of the unrelated incidents, which occurred more than a week apart, Elder said.
The most recent incident occurred about 6 p.m. Monday. Elder said a man approached a 29-year-old woman at a church, claiming to have car trouble and wanting to know if he could use the phone. On his way out of the building, the man grabbed the woman, who is 71/2 months pregnant, pulled out a knife and said he was going to rape her. The victim struggled with the suspect and was knocked to the floor. She then pleaded with him not to hurt her or her baby, and the man ran out the door, Elder said.
Richards also is charged in an Oct. 23 incident in which a man approached a 26-year-old woman and her two children as they were leaving a Lime Street coin laundry and threatened them with a knife. The suspect forced the woman and children into their car and told her to drive toward Cashion's Crossroads. While she was driving, the woman spotted some men standing outside a store and began blowing her horn to alert them something was wrong, Elder said. She then pulled her car into the parking lot, and the man jumped out and ran.
Elder said police were able to identify a suspect through descriptions of the attacker. Richards was brought in for questioning about the two incidents Tuesday afternoon, though he denied any involvement and was released. Before he was let go, he allowed police to take his photo and fingerprints, Elder said. The women identified the suspect through a photo lineup. Richards was being held in the county jail late Wednesday pending a bond hearing.

SPARTANBURG HERALD-JOURNAL (on-line version)
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Spartanburg, South Carolina

Spetember 03, 1992

In Gaffney SLED Says Woman Tried to Hire $200 KKK Hit Man

GAFFNEY - A 20-year-old Blacksburg woman who thought she was hiring a member of the Ku Klux Klan to kill her cousin's boyfriend was arrested at a Gaffney motel by undercover officers Tuesday night. Melissa Watson Harvey of 802 Bridges Road, Blacksburg, was arrested by agents from the State Law Enforcement Division at the Comfort Inn about 9:15 p.m., SLED spokesman Hugh Munn said.
She was charged with solicitation to commit murder and was being held in the city jail on $5,000 bond late Wednesday.
Authorities said Mrs. Harvey thought she was talking with a KKK hit man at the hotel while she was plotting the murder of her cousin's live-in boyfriend, who is black. Mrs. Harvey and her cousin are white.
Instead, she was dealing with an undercover SLED agent. After making arrangements with the officer to carry out the killing, she left the hotel for a short time before returning with $200 to pay for the killing. At that point, she was taken into custody, Munn said.
Munn said he was not sure why Mrs. Harvey, a former dispatcher and jailer for the Gaffney Police Department, may have wanted to have her cousin's boyfriend killed.
Blacksburg Police Chief Wayne Elder, who tipped off SLED about Mrs. Harvey last week, said the couple apparently was having domestic problems.
Authorities were withholding the names of Mrs. Harvey's cousin and the intended victim on Wednesday, citing privacy concerns. Elder said they live in the Buffalo community north of Blacksburg.
Elder said he talked with Mrs. Harvey on the phone last Wednesday after Blacksburg City Councilman Joe Hicks Whitener told him she had made some disturbing statements.
Whitener told Elder that Mrs. Harvey had called him, saying she found his name on some KKK literature and wanted to know if he could help her deal with someone causing her problems.
Aside from being troubled by Mrs. Harvey's request, Elder said Whitener was concerned about how his name had popped up on a KKK pamphlet.
Without identifying himself, Elder phoned Mrs. Harvey and asked about her problem. She told him that her cousin's boyfriend was causing trouble, but the police weren't able to do anything about it. Elder said he knew of a man who could help her, but he lived out of town and would have to get in touch with her.
Elder said he then called SLED, which set up the meeting at the hotel Tuesday night.
Mrs. Harvey, who most recently worked as a security guard at Belk department store in Gaffney, had been living with her grandmother, Pauline Moss, in Blacksburg after separating from her husband earlier this year.
"She wasn't planning nothing. She just got into it and didn't mean it," Mrs. Moss said.

SPARTANBURG HERALD-JOURNAL (on-line version)
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Spartanburg, South Carolina

June 11, 1992

Blacksburg Man Held in Rape of 8-year-old

Blacksburg police charged a 44-year-old man Wednesday with raping an 8-year-old girl.
Jonnie M. Gilliam of Blacksburg was arrested Wednesday morning on a charge of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, said Chief Wayne Elder.
Elder said Gilliam had been staying at the Fridy Street Apartments in Blacksburg after moving from Virgina about a month ago.
Police began investigating Gilliam last Friday after they took the 8-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy who lived at the apartments into protective custody after receiving a complaint from the state Department of Social Services, Elder said.
Gilliam was arrested at the Cherokee County Courthouse, where he was attending a Family Court hearing on the custody of the children, who were turned over to DSS, Elder said. Gilliam was being held in the county jail Wednesday night in lieu of a $50,000 bond.

SPARTANBURG HERALD-JOURNAL (on-line version)
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Spartanburg, South Carolina

June 04, 1992

Police Departments Win Federal Grants

GAFFNEY - The Cherokee County Sheriff's Department and the Blacksburg Police Department have received federal grants totaling more than $58,000 to fight illegal drugs.
The Sheriff's Department was awarded $26,517 to continue its participation in the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program. The money will be used to pay a portion of the salary for DARE officer Howard Barnhill, in addition to buying teaching materials for the anti-drug education program taught in county schools.
In Blacksburg, the Police Department was given $31,949 to step up efforts in combating illegal drugs. Under federal guidelines, the money can be used to hire undercover officers, purchase equipment, form multijurisdictional task forces and fund drug abuse prevention programs.
Both grants were awarded recently through the federal Drug Control and System Improvement Program, which is administered by the Governor's Division of Public Safety Programs.

SPARTANBURG HERALD-JOURNAL (on-line version)
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Spartanburg, South Carolina

January 23, 1992

N. Carolina Man Surrenders After Weekend Chase

GAFFNEY - A North Carolina man was arrested Tuesday on numerous theft and traffic-related charges in connection with a high-speed chase last weekend.
The pursuit began in Blacksburg about 5 a.m. Sunday when Blacksburg police were told about a suspicious car on Cherokee Avenue that was carrying a newspaper rack, sheriff's detective Jimmy Henson said.
Blacksburg police tried to stop the car, 1979 Toyota, but it took off on U.S. Highway 29 toward Gaffney, reaching speeds of 110 mph. Sheriff's deputies and city patrol officers also joined in the chase, which eventually went into Spartanburg County. The suspect finally crashed his car at 5:30 a.m. on Bonanza Drive, just off Highway 29 in Converse. The driver and a passenger got out of the car and ran. They were able to elude Spartanburg County authorities, Henson said.
During the chase, the suspect's car collided with a Gaffney patrol car on Highway 29, causing about $600 in damage to the cruiser, according to the police report. Richard Robert Abernathy of Stanley, N.C., surrendered to authorities Tuesday in connection with the incident.
The Sheriff's Department charged Abernathy, 26, with four counts of grand larceny in the thefts of four newspaper boxes at various locations in Blacksburg, Henson said. Abernathy also was charged by Gaffney police with failure to stop, hit and run, and littering, Sgt. Bobby Dover said.
In Blacksburg, Abernathy was served with warrants charging him with reckless driving, failure to stop and improper display of a vehicle license, according to Chief Wayne Elder. Warrants also have been issued for Abernathy's companion, Jeff Payne, of Stanley. Payne, who has not been arrested, faces charges of four counts of grand larceny, Henson said.