Criminal Defense Attorney inWellford, SC

Victim when rescued: “This is the best day of my life”

WELLFORD, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - The Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office arrested four adults on child abuse charges after a doctor said a young girl’s injuries met the criteria for a medical diagnosis of child torture.

According to the sheriff’s office, on Sept. 2, deputies responded to Waspnest Road to assist the Department of Social Services (DSS) with a detailed child abuse allegation that the agency had received from an anonymous source.

Deputies say, upon arrival, they were informed by a caseworker that DSS had come out to the home on several occasions to investigate, but the four adults at the home had hidden the victim, an 8-year-old girl.

Four children of various ages were found in the home, but the girl had a noticeable limp and temporary tattoos covering multiple visible bruises on both legs, deputies say.

The four adults were identified as the girl’s father 25-year-old Ian Tatro, 24-year-old Tenika Draper, 47-year-old Trina Rae Draper and 28-year-old Ryan Dezotelle, who all recently moved to Spartanburg County from Vermont.

Full bond hearing for suspects:

Bond hearing for four suspects charged after an 8-year-old girl was tortured according to investigators.

Tenika Draper admitted to putting makeup on the victim’s leg to cover up the bruising once DSS started coming to the house.

During a bond hearing on Friday, the solicitor’s office said multiple family members made the girl eat cat feces and cat food. The child had scars on her knees from kneeling in a crate and was beaten with boards, cords and a frying pan, according to the solicitor’s office.

The solicitor’s office said the victim’s father gave her laxatives and made her wear pull-ups. He reportedly told the child he “wished he could kill her and get away with it.”

A spokesperson for the solicitor’s office said the victim told investigators when she was rescued, “This is the best day of my life.”

The sheriff’s office said all four children were placed into emergency protective custody with DSS and the victim was taken to the hospital and admitted due to the extent of her bruising and blood loss concerns.

She spent two days in the hospital after she was removed from the home.

Deputies say medical personnel and one of the investigators spoke with the victim at the hospital where more detailed information was discovered.

It was also discovered, after the evaluation of a forensic doctor, that the 8-year-old girl met the criteria for a medical diagnosis of child torture.

A search warrant was also executed at the house which led to the discovery of more evidence that further corroborated the victim’s disclosure.

The four suspects are charged with the following:

During bond hearings on Friday, a judge said none of the suspects can return to the home where the abuse occurred or have contact with any of the children. They were all placed on GPS monitoring and will be on home detention if they bond out of jail.

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Hunt Midwest is planning its first development in the Greenville-Spartanburg area of South Carolina, with an industrial project in Wellford, S.C. The company has already started construction on Fort Prince Logistics Center and is planning to have it ready for occupancy in the fourth quarter of 2022.

The 476,280-square-foot industrial project will be located on a 47-acre site at 1090 Fort Prince Blvd. Hunt Midwest is planning to construct Fort Prince Logistics Center with 48 dock positions with 36-foot clear height, a 135-foot-deep truck court, mechanical dock equipment, ESFR sprinkler system, motion-sensor LED lighting, up to 125 tractor trailer parking stalls and 189 surface parking stalls with the option to expand to 385.

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Tony Borchers, vice president of acquisitions and development for Hunt Midwest, said in prepared remarks that the project will allow for maximum flexibility for logistics, manufacturing and distribution users.

Hunt Midwest tapped Seamon Whiteside for civil engineering, LS3P for building design and Evans General Contractors as the project’s general contractor. Colliers’ John Montgomery, Garrett Scott, Brockton Hall and Dillon Swayngim will be in charge of leasing for Fort Prince Logistics Center.

Michael Bell, senior vice president of commercial real estate for Hunt Midwest, said in prepared remarks that the company was drawn to the area’s highly skilled labor force and the property’s location, which has the ability to reach 244 million customers within two-day shipping.

Fort Prince Logistics Center will have nearby access to Interstate 85, Inland Port Greer, GSP International Airport and a BMW plant along I-85 in Greer, S.C. The project will also be next to Walmart’s $450 million investment into a 720,000-square-foot distribution facility that’s expected to be complete in 2024. Like Hunt Midwest, Rockefeller Group recently entered South Carolina’s Greenville/Spartanburg market, with a three-building industrial project totaling 827,000 square feet.

Bullish on Southeastern industrial

While working on Fort Prince Logistics Center, Hunt Midwest said it’s already planning other developments in the area. The company told Commercial Property Executive that it currently has another property under control for an additional 2.7 million square feet in the Greenville-Spartanburg market and will continue to pursue other land opportunities for more developments.

Since Hunt Midwest has already had success in the Midwest and the South, the company is planning to also expand its footprint further into the Southeastern region of the U.S. The company told CPE that it’s also pursuing opportunities in Charleston, S.C., Louisville, Ky., Savannah, Ga., and central Florida. Overall, Hunt Midwest has seen more than 2,500 acres of industrial development, with several properties in Kansas City, Mo., where the company is based.

WELLFORD, S.C. —

An Upstate organization is preparing to unveil a 16-acre neighborhood to help former prisoners transition back into the community.

JUMPSTART is preparing to open Restoration Village in Wellford. It will provide transitional housing for 106 people.

JUMPSTART is a Christ-centered reentry program that begins working with inmates while they're in prison and finishes after their first year out. It currently operates in 17 prisons around South Carolina.

"This community will be a community of accountability and encouragement where love is the standard," said Cary Sanders, executive director of JUMPSTART.

Sanders has a remarkable story of his own. He was arrested 17 times by the age of 17 and spent almost a decade in prison.

"People believed in me and wanted to give me an opportunity," he said.

Now, it's his mission to give others an opportunity.

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During the last 10 years, 3,500 men and women have completed JUMPSTART.

"Less than 4% have returned to prison," Sanders said. "This is an annual saving of over the $12 million to South Carolina taxpayers and that's important and that's significant, but what I think is more important is that mothers and fathers have returned home to be in their rightful place, helping raise children and be a blessing to our community."

Sanders and the program had a special visit Thursday from Bryan Stirling, director of the South Carolina Department of Corrections.

Sanders showed Stirling one of the units that will soon house participants as they transition back into the community. He said it could be ready by next month.

"When I go to national meetings, when I talk with directors of other departments, I tell them to come look at JUMPSTART and see what they're doing in South Carolina and hopefully, this could be a model for other reentry efforts across the country," Stirling said.

South Carolina already has the lowest recidivism rate in the country at about 19%.

Ten years ago, Stirling said, it was 32%.

Stirling said JUMPSTART could help continue to reduce that rate.

"We always know that we can do better. Private partners like this are incredible to that effort (and) we couldn't do it without them," Stirling said.

WELLFORD, S.C. —

JUMPSTART is set to hold its grand opening at 9 a.m. on Saturday for the newly built "Restoration Village" in Wellford.

The Restoration Village is a 26-acre campus that will feature 24 transitional homes and a large list of amenities for men and women transitioning out of prison back into society."

"JUMPSTART exists to create meaningful opportunities for men and women who are incarcerated,” JUMPSTART Executive Director Cary Sanders said. "This will be a community that will serve 106 men and woman every single year. 125 men and woman are getting out of prison and coming to the upstate every month. For those who get out without any assistance, over 70% of them return to prison within three years nationally. Over the past 10 years, 96% of those who have come through jumpstart are now thriving in the community.”

While the village is not 100% complete, there are several homes that are already built and ready to be lived in.

“Yes, people who’ve committed crimes need to experience justice, but 95% of those who are incarcerated are being released," Sanders said. "So, why not have them be prepared and have a pathway toward a bright future.”

Sanders said there will be staff and cameras on-site to monitor behavior, mandatory drug tests for participants, and assigned mentors. Sanders said with those aspects, the 'Restoration Village' will potentially be a much safer community than some of the surrounding areas, due to strict requirements to live there.

Sanders also said that the housing will no be a handout, but an opportunity that requires work, accountability, and dedication from the participants.

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"People without opportunity need opportunity to get on their feet, but once they’re gainfully employed they will pay a program fee because we believe men and women need to own their responsibility for their own care in life.”

With a 96% success rate according to Sanders, the need to help more ex-prisoners getting out as well as demand to become a participant has boosted the 'Restoration Village' project, something that was a few years in the making.

Jennifer Meade, a current JUMPSTART participant, said the organization has changed her life for the better. She said she served time in prison three different times, but now has a new outlook on life.

“I got out March 1, 2022, and I came to JUMPSTART,” Meade said "When I got out the second time, I didn’t have anywhere to go. So, I went back to the same thing I was doing. The first two times I knew nothing about JumpStart, and this last time I knew I had to do something different with my life.”

Meade said she hopes her journey of turning her life around will inspire someone else in a similar situation to make the necessary changes they need to, to put their lives on a positive track.

"You have to put the effort in and give 100%, and you’ll be fine," Meade said.

Sanders said the remainder of the village will rely on support from the community. He hopes to have the village completed in its entirety by 2025.

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WELLFORD, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - “Breaking Bread for Jesus” says it needs more food.

Simply put—the needs for food insecure families continue you grow, in Spartanburg County.

When the soup kitchen first started, organizers say it was only serving about 30 to 40 plates a week. Now, that’s more than quadrupled to almost 200 per week. It just goes to show how great need has grown over the years.

As soon as volunteers open their doors at 11 a.m., the orders start pouring in. And director Gail Eanes says everyone who comes isn’t homeless.

“We don’t ask any questions. We assume when they come in the door that they’re hungry or they know somebody that’s hungry. So, we feed them. That’s what God has called us to do.” said Eanes.

Back in 2015, after volunteering at a different soup kitchen, Eanes realized some families in the Wellford-Duncan-Startex-Jackson-Lyman area needed help. That’s when “Breaking Bread for Jesus” was born.

“We know that it’s getting worse every day,” Eanes said, “There are more and more people that are coming into the doors here. And then, by Thanksgiving, I look for an increase of, at least, 15 percent.”

Volunteers serve the community fresh, home-cooked meals, 365 days a year—since the kitchen started. Some take for themselves. Some take for others, like Glenna “Faye” Holcombe.

“I’m sharing it with my mom, with a neighbor down the street. He cannot get out and drive anymore. So, I take different food to different people,” Mrs. Faye said.

Mrs. Faye says landing on their doorsteps is food is made with love.

“They’re not only concerned about the homeless. They’re concerned about the neighborhood. This is a community program,” Mrs. Faye continues, “And the food is delicious.”

Eanes says, despite setbacks, they will keep breaking bread, until it’s all gone.

“Our pantries are lower, right now, than they have been since we started,” said Eanes.

Mrs. Faye says the community needs it.

“Because of the economy now, everything is very expensive. People are hungry,” said Mrs. Faye, “And you wouldn’t think, in this country that we live in, that hunger would be here, but it’s here.”

“Breaking Bread for Jesus” will serve food on Thanksgiving and Christmas day. The kitchen is in need of food donations, monetary donations, and volunteers. So, if you’re interested, visit their website.

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