HAMLET — A South Carolina man is accused of robbing a Richmond County convenience store and stealing cigarettes this past summer.
According to the Hamlet Police Department, 32-year-old Clifton Marcus Benjamin, of Dillon, South Carolina, walked into the Speedway gas station in August, indicated to the clerk that he had a gun, and stole several cartons of cigarettes.
Investigators were reportedly able to identify Benjamin as a suspect within the month — however, they say he was sitting in the Dillon County Jail on unrelated charges when they obtained arrest warrants.
Benjamin was taken into custody on Wednesday, Oct. 18 and served warrants charging him with robbery with a dangerous weapon, felony larceny and misdemeanor larceny. He was booked into the Richmond County Jail where he is being held on a combined $81,000 secured bond and is scheduled to appear in court Nov. 2.
Online court records show Benjamin has two pending counts of felony larceny in Moore County.
South Carolina court records show Benjamin was convicted Oct. 17 after pleading guilty to third-degree assault and battery by a mob in Dillon County.
Benjamin previously pleaded guilty on Aug. 30 to three counts of shoplifting and one count each of malicious injury to animals or personal property and third-degree burglary, and has had several other charges dismissed.
Records show Benjamin has several other prior convictions in Dillon County, as well as in Marlboro County, including: third-degree domestic violence; unlawful carrying of a pistol; grand larceny; and shoplifting.
(Note: While looking through online records, the RO was blocked by the S.C. Courts public index.)
All defendants facing criminal charges are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
