Public Safety

Charges are still pending against a Nakina man who allegedly stole a Columbus County Sheriff’s Office vehicle and led a high-speed chase into South Carolina June 26. Michael Terrill Hemingway, 29, is still in the J. Reuben Long Detention Center in Horry County. He faces charges in South Carolina of driving under the influence, littering, having an open container in a vehicle, shoplifting, and possession of a stolen...

  A female suspect has been charged after allegedly allowing a man to molest three girls. Mary Louise Blanton, 52, of Loris, was taken into custody Monday night on three counts of felony child sexual abuse. Detention Center reports show she was held without bond. Warrants show Blanton allegedly allowed Jeromy Blanton, 45, to perform sex acts on three underaged girls over an extended period in 2019. Blanton...

UPDATED July 8 at 11:35 a.m. The Highway Patrol has identified the motorcyclist who died while trying to escape Columbus County deputies  Monday evening. Colton Michael Newman, 20, of Fort Bragg, rammed into another vehicle at N.C.  87 and Kennedy Store Road at East Arcadia, just across the street the Bladen-Columbus line. The driver in the other vehicle was injured, and was transported to New Hanover Regional with...