From staff reports
Two Beaufort men who robbed a couple at gunpoint – including the cousin of one of the defendants – will spend the next decade in prison.
Gerell Nathaniel Daise, 23, and Jonas Jerry Washington, 25, pleaded guilty Tuesday, March 5, to a 2021 theft at their victim’s home just before their jury trial was to begin at the Beaufort County Courthouse.
The defendants were convicted of one count each of kidnapping, larceny, second-degree burglary, armed robbery and possession of a weapon during commission of a violent crime.
They were sentenced to 10 years each.
“Gerell Daise and Jonas Washington thought they would make a quick score,” said Mary Jones of the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, who prosecuted the case.
“They did not care if that meant stealing from a relative or threatening people at gunpoint with a child present. Fortunately, they are now off the streets.”
At about 7:30 p.m. on April 22, 2021, the couple were driving in a vehicle with their young child when the woman spotted Daise, her cousin, walking with Washington.
They stopped and offered the men a ride.
When they arrived at the woman’s home in Burton, the woman took the child inside. The three men remained in the car.
A short time later, Washington and Daise pointed a gun at the male victim and demanded to be let in the house.
The male victim unlocked the door, and he and Washington entered the house while Daise moved into the driver’s seat of the vehicle.
Inside, Washington rifled through the couple’s belongings.
He then departed with a long gun in his hand and drove away in the victim’s car, driven by Daise.
The crime was captured in part by a home-surveillance camera, which corroborated the victims’ statements.
Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office patrol officers located the car and began pursing the vehicle.
Daise jumped out of the car and ran.
Washington took the wheel but wrecked the vehicle a short distance later, then fled on foot, as well.
Daise was arrested later that night while hiding in a neighbor’s house in Beaufort. Washington was apprehended six days after the incident.
Neither Daise, nor Washington had a previous criminal conviction in South Carolina at the time of their arrests.
However, Daise was out on bond for another charge and was wearing an ankle monitor as a term of his release. The tracking data for the device confirmed his presence at the crime scene and fleeing from law enforcement.
Washington pleaded guilty to a burglary in Georgia shortly after the incident in Burton.
He is serving a five-year prison sentence there and will begin serving his South Carolina sentence after his Georgia prison time is complete. His South Carolina prison sentence will run concurrently with his Georgia sentence.
Circuit Court Judge Kristi Curtis handed down the sentence.
