From Staff
Man burns house twice, pleads guilty to arson
A Harrisburg man who twice set fire to a vacated house near his home pleaded guilty to arson Tuesday.
William Q. Widener, 35, was sentenced to three years' probation with 100 hours of community service. He pleaded guilty in Richmond County Superior Court to two counts of arson for setting fire to an empty house on the 1700 block of Watkins Street twice last year.
Attorney John Manton told Judge James G. Blanchard Jr. that Mr. Widener thought he was helping the neighborhood by burning down a crack house. The judge warned Mr. Widener that the vigilantism had to stop or he would face prison time.
Teenager pleads guilty in school riot case
Another former Academy of Richmond County student accused of inciting a riot this spring pleaded guilty to a reduced charge Tuesday.
Deontae J. Cherry, 17, pleaded guilty in Richmond County Superior Court to disruption of a public school, a misdemeanor. Judge James G. Blanchard Jr. said the yearlong probation sentence will be suspended after Mr. Cherry writes a 10-page paper about the role of law and order in everyday life, and when he joins the Army at age 18.
Johndrick L. Barnes, 17, was sentenced in October on the same misdemeanor charge to time served. Charges are still pending against three others. The male students were charged with criminal gang activity and inciting to riot after an April 3 fight at the school involving about 50 students.
2 men sought in armed robbery in Martinez
Columbia County police were looking for two men Tuesday night in an armed robbery outside Martinez stores.
The incident occurred in the parking lot of the Food Lion and Family Dollar on South Belair Road at 7:25 p.m. as two men robbed someone at gunpoint, according to a sheriff's dispatcher. The men -- one described as white and wearing a black hat, glasses and blue jeans, the other black and wearing a mask over his face and a black jacket -- reportedly fled on foot toward Wheeler Road.
