2 charged with Lancaster robberies after deputy spots fleeing truck

Two men are accused of robbing two Lancaster County stores at gunpoint this week.

Justin Eugene Cauthen, 26, and Austin Reece Hopkins, 17, were arrested Tuesday and are each charged with armed robbery, according to the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office.

The first robbery happened about 5 p.m. Monday at Lloyd’s Phillips 66 at Five Points on Camp Creek Road, according to sheriff’s spokesman Doug Barfield. Two employees reported that a man entered the store and demanded all the money in the register while pointing a gun at one of the employees.

The suspect left after an employee gave him cash, Barfield said. No one was injured, and the incident was captured on surveillance video.

The second robbery happened about 1:40 a.m. Tuesday at the Buford Express on Pageland Highway. The armed suspect entered the store and pointed a gun at the clerk, then ran from the store after she gave him cash, Barfield said.

Before the second robbery happened, deputies and investigators received information about a red Chevrolet S-10 pickup that was used in the Monday robbery, Barfield said. Within minutes of the second robbery, a deputy spotted a truck matching that description and stopped it on New Cut Church Road. Hopkins was the driver and Cauthen was the passenger.

Barfield said clothing, a BB pistol and cash were found in the truck.

“We are thankful no one was injured in these robberies,” Sheriff Barry Faile said in a prepared statement. “Citizen information and quick action by our deputy allowed us to solve these cases quickly and take these men into custody.”

This story was originally published October 13, 2015 at 1:13 PM with the headline "2 charged with Lancaster robberies after deputy spots fleeing truck."