‘They won’t stop,’ Richland County sheriff says of ‘cigarette bandits’

Two Midlands men described as the “cigarette bandits” were arrested in connection with a 10-store cigarette-stealing crime spree.

Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said at a press conference Monday that over the past month stores from Broad River Road to Two Notch Road were broken into by someone throwing a brick or rock through the door.

They stole mostly Newport cigarettes, Lott said.

“I’m not a smoker, but they’re popular on the street,” he said.

Lott said investigators are looking into three stores they believe bought the stolen cigarettes — two on Farrow Road and one on north Main Street. He declined to name those stores.

“They are just as guilty as those who steal them,” he said.

Lott blasted the criminal justice system for letting suspects out of jail to commit more crimes. He called the situation “peat and repeat.”

“They won’t stop,” he said.

Lott identified the suspects as Harold Jeffcoat and Richard Young.

Jeffcoat, 63, was arrested March 3 on Fairfield Road and charged with one count of burglary and one count of larceny. More charges could be forthcoming from Lexington County and Irmo.

“Jeffcoat was previously arrested by RCSD back in August for doing the same thing,” the sheriff’s department said in a news release.

Police arrested Young, 50, on March 4 at his residence in Lexington County. He is charged with four counts of burglary and three counts of larceny.

The Sheriff’s Department said eight businesses were broken into in Richland County, along with at least one other in Lexington County and one in Irmo during a month-long crime spree.

This story was originally published March 7, 2022 at 1:21 PM.