HORRY COUNTY, SC (WMBF) – Socastee and Carolina Forest community members said they’re looking for solutions following a recent string of car and business thefts.
Some of those thefts were even caught on security cameras.
It’s an issue affecting two of the county’s fastest-growing neighborhoods.
“You can hear him [say] ‘it’s locked.’ Now, he’s going to go to the next business,” Socastee business owner Debbie Flinchum described as she showed WMBF News security camera footage.
She’s one of many who said they are on edge after what she’s calling a troubling trend in her typically quiet community.
“It is getting more frequent. It is happening almost weekly, all the way to daily. It appears to be the same people that are consistently trying to break into cars. They’re breaking into businesses, and they’re breaking into housing developments,” she said.
She told WMBF News that the break-ins have shifted her routine, forcing her to keep her head on a swivel to ensure her business doesn’t become a target.
“The first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is check my security cameras,” she explained.
Her cameras have caught would-be thieves in the act on multiple occasions.
As have cameras in Carolina Forest.
While it’s still unclear exactly how costly these crimes have been altogether, a police report on one of the incidents claims a thief made off earlier this month with $400 from a car in Carolina Forest.
Flinchum said she worries these crimes will soon escalate from more than petty theft to violence.
“My biggest worry is they’re going to attempt to break in, and somebody’s going to catch them in the act, and they’re going to get hurt,” she said.
Flinchum and others are now asking the community for help bringing these thieves to justice, emphasizing that time is of the essence.
“I wish someone would come forward and identify the people in these videos, and let’s stop them,” she said.
Flinchum said she sends videos of the successful and unsuccessful thieves to Horry County police but it keeps happening.
WMBF News asked Horry County Police Department for comment but they declined an on-camera interview.
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