Daniel Prince
Investigation into criminal domestic violence led to discovery
A report of criminal domestic violence led Public Safety officers to a residence where they found more than 100 marijuana plants growing. Cpl. Robert Hope responded to the KJ’s parking lot regarding an assault that had occurred at an address on Morris Circle. The victim stated she had an altercation with her live-in boyfriend of six months at the address. She said she walked outside and saw a light coming from the upstairs of the home. She stated the stairs going up there are damaged, and the area was not accessible to her. She said a tarp had been up since November to help keep the air sealed downstairs. When she questioned her boyfriend about it, she said he told her he was growing marijuana upstairs, and that led to a huge fight between them. She told officers she ended the relationship and told him she wanted him out of the house. She said he then began to push her and then break things in the house. He also flooded the kitchen area. She said he broke her phone and put it in a bowl of water so she couldn’t call police. She told him she was going to a hotel for the night, and he threatened to burn the house down if she left. She ended up leaving and going to her sister’s house, and her sister called 911.
Cpl. Hope ran the boyfriend’s information, who was identified as 38-year-old Curtis Michael Parker. An active arrest warrant from Kershaw County for failure to appear came up. The woman was taken to Public Safety Headquarters to make a written statement and receive a Victim Advocate form. Deputies Littleton and Plemmons with the Union County Sheriff’s Office met Cpl. Hope and Sgt. Shaver at headquarters to assist. The woman gave officers the key to the home and gave them permission to enter. Cpl. Hope knocked on the front door and announced himself. The officers could hear someone inside the house and observed the lights go out. After several attempts to get Parker to come to the door, Hope used the key and entered and again announced himself as the police. Parker was upstairs, and eventually he announced he was coming down and made his way down the broken staircase, where Littleton and Hope detained him. Parker was chewing on something that turned out to be a marijuana leaf, and he had remnants of a marijuana leaf on his pants. He claimed everything upstairs was his. Shaver, Hope, and Plemmons removed approximately 135 marijuana plants, Miracle-Gro, and heat lamps from the upstairs. No other contraband was found in the house or in the van outside. The victim stated she did not notice any fluctuations in her electric bill due to the heat lamps, and she didn’t notice Parker going upstairs to tend the plants due to her work schedule. Parker was charged with trafficking marijuana and 2nd-degree criminal domestic violence.