NC man charged with looting SC charity store during state’s 2020 COVID state of emergency
A North Carolina man released from prison Monday was back in jail in South Carolina Tuesday after he was charged with looting during the 2020 COVID-19 state of emergency, records show.
Jesse William Ledford, 32, of Gastonia, N.C., was booked Monday night at the York County jail 15 months after the May 2020 theft of items at the Sweet Repeat non-profit store in Lake Wylie, according to arrest warrants obtained by The Herald.
Ledford is charged by York County Sheriff’s Office deputies with two counts of burglary, larceny, possession of burglary tools, criminal conspiracy, and looting under a state of emergency, warrants and jail records show.
Ledford was incarcerated in North Carolina until he was served arrest warrants Monday connected to the York County May 2020 looting, burglary and other charges, said Capt. Carson Neely of the York County Sheriff’s Office.
Records from the Gaston County, N.C., sheriff’s office and the N.C. Department of Corrections show Ledford was in prison in Brunswick County, N.C., until his release Monday. He had served a North Carolina sentence for larceny and other crimes.
Ledford remains in the York County jail without bail.
During state of emergency
When the items were stolen on May 9, 2020, South Carolina was under a state of emergency declared by Gov. Henry McMaster in March 2020, the arrest warrants state. When McMaster declared a Covid-19 state of emergency, a law went into effect that made looting a separate crime, the warrants state.
The coronavirus state of emergency ended later in 2020.
Sweet Repeat officials told deputies in May 2020 they had video of two people stealing from donation sheds, a sheriff’s office incident report shows. A vehicle and a man with bolt cutters also could be seen in the video as the suspects took items, the report states.
Sweet Repeat receives donations to be resold for money that the store gives to area charities.
Another suspect, and other looting charges
Warrants had been issued against Ledford and another suspect after the May 2020 crimes, sheriff’s office records show. The other suspect, Charlene Carter Ledford, 55, also of Gastonia, N.C., was arrested in September 2020 on charges that include burglary, conspiracy, larceny, and looting, York County sheriff and court records show. Her charges remain pending, court records show.
Two other people from North Carolina were charged with looting in York County during the state of emergency in South Carolina in 2020. Both suspects later pleaded guilty to associated burglary charges and were each sent to prison for six years. The looting charges were dropped as part of negotiated plea agreements, according to prosecutors and court records.
This story was originally published August 31, 2021 at 3:40 PM.
