Port Royal woman charged with helping brother after escape from Jasper County Detention Center
By Mike McCombs
The Island News
Another suspect connected to a Beaufort County sex trafficking ring had her case bound over for trial Friday, Aug. 23, in Beaufort Magistrate Court.
Magistrate Nancy Sadler ruled there was probable cause to try Kalynn Jade Cloud, 20, of Port Royal on the charge of Harboring an Escaped Convict.
On July 18, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) charged Cloud; Amani Nekwan Vaughn, 30, of Port Royal; and Guy Frank Talley, III, 27, of Beaufort with Harboring an Escaped Convict for their alleged roles in helping Port Royal’s Jaquan Duvall Barnes, 29, evade capture and flee the Beaufort area after his escape from the Jasper County Detention Center on or about June 9 or 10.
Cloud and Vaughn, Barnes’ biological sisters, both posted a $10,000 cash bond and a $10,000 surety bond, according to court records. Vaughn’s hearing is set for Friday, Sept. 20.
Barnes, the alleged leader of the sex trafficking ring, is charged with Trafficking in Persons, Victim Under 18 Years of Age; two counts of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor – 2nd Degree; two counts of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor – 3rd Degree; Contributing to Delinquency of a Minor; and Unlawful Escape.
Talley, who allegedly harbored Barnes at his Beaufort residence, also faces charges of Trafficking in Persons, Victim Under 18 Years of Age; Sexual Exploitation of a Minor — 2nd Degree; and Sexual Exploitation of a Minor — 3rd Degree as part of the trafficking operation.
Talley’s bond was set Tuesday, July 23 at $110,000 with GPS monitoring and house detention. He can only leave home for work or medical or legal appointments. He posted bond and was released Monday, July 29. His preliminary hearing has been continued several times.
At Cloud’s probable cause hearing Friday, SLED Special Agent Logan Fey testified that in Barnes’ escape from the Jasper County Detention Center on June 9 or 10, he utilized tools to break a hole in the shower. He entered into the ceiling, which allowed him to crawl toward daylight, break out of the roof, break out into the enclosed yard, scale the fence and concertina wire and cross the road into the woods.
Barnes made his way on foot to a gas station in Coosawhatchie, where he used homeless person’s cell phone to contact Beaufort County resident Guy Talley III and his sisters.
According to Fey, when Talley was arrested in June, he provided a statement to investigators. Fey testified that Talley admitted providing a phone to Barnes, who then contacted his sisters – Cloud and Vaughn — and summoned them to Talley’s residence in Beaufort County.
According to Fey, it was Talley’s direct statement that he overheard the phone call between the sisters and Barnes. The two girls eventually provided clothing, as well as the cell phone of which Barnes was in possession when arrested in Florida.
According to Fey, at Barnes’ residence, a DVR, now in SLED’s possession, contained footage of Barnes’ sisters arriving and later leaving with Barnes. They eventually left Beaufort County, helping Barnes reach Florida and evade law enforcement.
According to Fey, SLED surveiled the sisters, following them to Barnes in Florida, where they supplied help to him on the run.
According to Fey, once investigators knew Cloud and Vaughn aided in Barnes’ escape, they became a target of the investigation.
On a Federal Magistrate Warrant, for up to a month prior to the escape, Fey said SLED could monitor the date and frequency of the phone calls but not the actual content of the conversations.
He testified that there was a “substantial” uptick in phone communications between Barnes and Cloud (and Vaughn) on a device provided by the Jasper County Detention Center, though he could not testify to what they spoke about.
SLED has the communications from Barnes’ new cell phone to the sisters, while Cloud’s cell phone is still being processed at this time. (Fey said law enforcement had seized more than 50 electronic devices, so far, in this case.)
Cloud did not provide law enforcement with a statement.
Fey testified SLED does “foresee additional arrests being made” in this case.
Cloud’s attorney, Carolyn Carmody, argued that without the actual substance of the conversations or text messages, law enforcement was simply speculating as to why Barnes contacted Cloud and Vaughn.
However, in binding Cloud over for trial, Sadler made clear that Talley’s statement was more than enough when combined with the phone evidence.
“All of that added together is sufficient for probable cause,” she said.
Mike McCombs is the Editor of The Island News and can be reached at TheIslandNews@gmail.com.
