Three arrested for Thanksgiving Day robbery in Fort Mill, trying to force woman into car

Three people have been arrested after a woman reported that she was robbed and almost kidnapped in a home-improvement store parking lot on Thanksgiving Day.

The woman, a Washington, D.C., resident, told Fort Mill police she was walking in the Lowe’s parking lot on Carolina Place Drive near her hotel around 4:30 p.m. A car pulled up beside her, and a man jumped out and attempted to pull her into the car, according to a release from the Fort Mill Police Department.

The man took the woman’s cell phone, but she managed to break free from his grasp and run away. The attempted kidnapper then got back into the car, which contained two other people, and attempted to flee the scene. But the car didn’t get far before it struck a tree in the parking lot.

Three suspects then ran from the area on foot, and Fort Mill police took them into custody at a retail complex a short time later. All three are 18 years old and from the Asheville, N.C., area.

Graham Clark Cornwell is charged with attempted kidnapping, strong-arm robbery and first-degree assault and battery, along with criminal conspiracy, drug possession charges and an unrelated charge of breaking into a motor vehicle in the same area.

Benjamin Jerome Hornowski is also charged with robbery, criminal conspiracy and leaving the scene of an accident.

Alicia Perlson is charged with criminal conspiracy and robbery.

As of Sunday, Cornwell and Hornowski were still being held in the York County Detention Center, while Perlson was released on bond early Sunday morning.

This story was originally published November 29, 2015 at 12:54 PM with the headline "Three arrested for Thanksgiving Day robbery in Fort Mill, trying to force woman into car."