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The Isle of Palms has become a popular target for crime sprees this winter. Flat screen
televisions that grace the walls of many of the island’s rental homes put dollar signs in
the eyes of a maid service employee who was arrested with two others earlier this year.
Another set of thieves have followed in those footsteps.
Since the second week in January, approximately 20 homes have been forcefully
broken into and robbed, mostly, of DVDs and televisions. “We’ve had a lot of physical
evidence left at the scene,” IOP Police Lieutenant Raymond Wright says. He says evid
ence such as cigarette butts and footprints have been found. Early in the morning on
February 11, IOP Police believe they may have several people to whom they can con
nect that evidence and end yet another crime spree.
Mary Walker (38 years old), William Paul Hardin (40 years old), and a 16 year old juven
ile have been charged with First Degree Burglary and Grand Larceny. Walker is being
held on a $20,000 bond while Hardin is being held on a $40,000 bond. Lieutenant
Wright says the accused were caught shortly after burglarizing a home at 216 Ocean
Boulevard. Approximately $7400 worth of televisions and DVDs was recovered from that
particular burglary. The thieves hid the merchandise underneath the house to retrieve
later.
Police got a break after stopping a speeder a few hours earlier around midnight. The
speeder, a family member of at least one of the burglars who happened to have out
standing warrants with the Summerville Police Department and Berkeley County Sher
iff’s Office, told officers a little about the criminal activity after being stopped.
“We were able to get enough information to follow up and make these arrests,” IOP
Lieutenant Wright said. He does not believe that this rash of criminal activity is related to
the previous IOP crime spree involving the AMS maid service where three people were
arrested.
The earlier crime spree began in October of 2007 and involved the maid service em
ployee using keys for easy access to the homes. Crime scenes in that spree were re
stricted to rental homes. However, the burglars used forced in these recent breakins
and although the majority of homes were rentals, some private residences were also
burglarized.
The $7400 of recovered merchandise is only from the homes that were burglarized the
evening of the arrest. Stolen items from the other homes have yet to be recovered and
police do not yet have an accurate idea of how much merchandise has been stolen in
total. Lieutenant Wright says that the merchandise is most likely being sold at flea mar
kets.
“It’s going out of town quick,” Wright says.
More charges involving approximately 20 other homes are expected as the investigation
continues. The juvenile will be tried in family court. Although police would not say if any
of the accused have confessed, Wright says they have all cooperated with the investiga
tion. Both Hardin and Walker are scheduled to appear in court on March 11.
“The most important thing for residents to remember is to lock their cars in their drive
way and garage and to lock their homes,” Lieutenant Wright says. “ There are too many
transient people looking for opportunities to commit crimes.”