By Tony Kukulich
A suspect already in custody and facing an armed robbery charge was arrested and charged in a seperate armed robbery that took place in Beaufort earlier this year.
Arrested was Andrew Lee Brown, a 38-year-old Beaufort resident.
According to reports, a subject entered a landscaping and nursery business on Old Jericho Road in Beaufort around 5 p.m. on Feb. 17 and claimed to be armed with a handgun. The suspect stole cash from the business and fled the area.
Deputies from the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) used bloodhounds to search for the suspect. While they did not locate Brown, he was arrested several days later on charges unrelated to the Feb. 17 robbery and has been in custody at the Beaufort County Detention Center since his Feb. 22 arrest.
Sheriff’s Office investigators were able to forensically link Brown to the Feb.17 robbery through DNA evidence collected from the crime scene. Investigators obtained an arrest warrant for Brown, and it was served Wednesday, Aug. 17 at the county detention center. He was scheduled for a bond hearing Aug. 18. According to county records, Brown remains in custody.
Brown was also charged with armed robbery when he was arrested on Feb. 22. In that incident, officers from the Beaufort Police Department responded to the report of a robbery at the Dollar General located at 2751 Boundary St.
Officers met with a cashier there who said the suspect approached the register and claimed to have a gun before demanding the contents of the register. The suspect went behind the counter and attacked the cashier, who fought back to defend himself. The suspect then fled the store. During the police investigation of the incident, another victim reported being robbed by the same suspect while walking on Walsh Drive shortly before the Dollar General robbery.
As officers responded to the Dollar General, Beaufort County Traffic Management Center personnel used traffic cameras to locate the suspect walking on Parris Island Gateway. County dispatch relayed that information to responding officers. With the help of BCSO deputies, the suspect was located and detained. Both victims positively identified Brown as the suspect in their respective incidents.
Tony Kukulich is a recent transplant to the Lowcountry. A native of Wilmington, Del., he comes to The Island News from the San Francisco Bay Area where he spent seven years as a reporter and photographer for several publications. He can be reached at tony.theislandnews@gmail.com.
