Man who came to Columbia to rob store goes to prison for decades, official says
A man who came to Columbia to rob a cellphone store now is beginning a 20-year prison sentence in South Carolina’s capital city, according to the 5th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.
On Feb. 25, Charles Crib pleaded guilty to the armed robbery of a Verizon store off Broad River Road, the solicitor’s office said Monday in a news release. An exact location for the store was not available.
Judge Daniel Coble sentenced Crib to serve 20 years in a South Carolina Department of Corrections prison, according to the release. Crib, 23, is currently being held at Kirkland Reception and Evaluation Center, which is on Broad River Road in Columbia.
The armed robbery happened Jan. 14, 2024, when Crib and another man held a Verizon employee at gunpoint and forced the employee to the back of the store, the solicitor’s office said. While one robber pointed the gun, the other held a bag open and ordered the employee to place the phones inside, according to the release.
The robbers took approximately 40 cell phones, the solicitor’s office said.
A female friend of Crib’s was in the store before the armed men entered, according to the release. Video surveillance from outside the store captured the license plate numbers of the vehicles involved, as one vehicle was registered to Crib’s friend, and the other was registered to a car stolen in North Carolina, the solicitor’s office said.
Cell tower records placed Crib in North Carolina at the time the vehicle was stolen and showed him traveling from Dillon County, where he lived, to the store, then back to Dillon with his female friend, according to the release.
When he was arrested on April 30, 2024, Crib also was charged with kidnapping as well as possession of a weapon during a violent crime, but neither of those counts were prosecuted, Richland County court records show.
Senior Assistant Solicitor Kathryn Cavanaugh led the prosecution for the solicitor’s office. Makenzie Thomas was listed as Crib’s attorney, according to court records.
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This story was originally published March 3, 2026 at 10:01 AM.
