Serial car thief caught after SC carjacking spree, Richland County Sheriff says
An Alabama man is behind bars after going on a carjacking spree across South Carolina, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department said.
Desmond Dewayne Hillis, 33, was wanted by multiple law enforcement agencies for stealing several vehicles, the sheriff’s department said in a news release.
His crimes often involved elderly victims, including his own relative, according to the release.
Hillis, who has a criminal record in Alabama, started his rampage across South Carolina on Dec. 9, when he stole a car from an elderly relative in Rock Hill, the sheriff’s department said.
He took that stolen vehicle to Blythewood, where he stole another vehicle, according to the release.
Hillis spotted an elderly man who left his Nissan Pathfinder running while checking his mail in the 1400 block of Loner Road, the sheriff’s department said.
Rather than just steal the SUV, Hillis first asked the man for directions to Alabama before pleading for money, according to the release.
When he was rebuffed, “Hillis jumped out of the vehicle he had stolen from his family member and hopped into the ... Pathfinder,” fending off the man’s attempts to stop the carjacking, the sheriff’s department said.
While he was driving the Pathfinder, Hillis was involved in several hit-and-run collisions that are being investigated by the South Carolina Highway Patrol, the release stated.
On Dec. 10, the sheriff’s department said Hillis tried to steal another vehicle.
But in that incident, the “would-be victim” kept Hillis away from the vehicle’s keys and detained him until he was arrested by Columbia Police Department officers, according to the release.
Hillis was taken to the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center, where he was charged with armed robbery with a deadly weapon, grand larceny valued $10,000 or more, carjacking without great bodily harm, first-degree assault and battery, and strong arm robbery, jail records show.
His bond was set at a combined $200,000 on the charges, and Hillis remains locked up, according to jail records.
Hillis is a registered sex offender in Alabama, after he was convicted of second-degree rape in August 2016, according to city-data.com.
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