Swansea, SC (Paul Kirby) – An officer with the Swansea Police Department was dispatched to a report of a subject shoplifting at the Family Dollar store on North Church Street in the town Saturday evening. After arriving at the store and investigating further, the officer arrested Jessica Dawn Blythe Elam, 27, of Elgin.
When the officer arrived, he observed the woman still in the store taking items and putting them in her purse. The officer approached the woman and asked what she was planning to do those things. She was very forthcoming and told the officer that she planned to steal them. Throughout the store, she had opened numerous other items and removed them from their original packaging making them unsellable. At this point, she was placed under arrest.
After putting the woman in handcuffs, she was searched. During a search of her purse, the Swansea police officer found more items that appeared to have been taken during the shoplifting spree. Further down in her purse, he located a black bag. Inside it was three other small bags that contained a gram of meth and a gram of heroin. These were field tested and all tested positive for their respective drugs. There were also several needles, a snorting straw, and a spoon used to ingest or inject narcotics.
Elam was transported to the Lexington County Detention Center. She has been charged with shoplifting, possession of paraphernalia, and possession of methamphetamine and heroin.
All suspects are entitled to due process under US law. All are innocent until proven guilty.
