Lexington, SC 03/18/2024 (Paul Kirby) – Brandon Hoffman, an Aiken County man arrested by Calhoun County a few weeks ago on a similar crime, was arrested last Friday by the Lexington County Sheriff Department. Hoffman’s charges in both St. Matthews, and Lexington stem from a multi county feed corn theft that officials allege netted Hoffman about $120,000.
Although Hoffman proclaimed his innocence during a call to The Lexington Ledger last week, Russell Sharpe of Sharpe’s Farm, LLC, the rightful owner of the corn, wrote a statement saying he had caught Hoffman stealing his corn while he was contracted to cut and haul it from the Swansea area of the county. Sharpe stated that Hoffman had clear instructions to cut and haul that back to grain storage bins for holding on Sharpe’s farm property in North, SC. Instead of doing so, Hoffman was going back to the field late at night after cutting that day, taking Sharpe’s tractor-trailer full of corn back to his home in Wagner, SC, and then driving early the next morning to Columbia Farms. As soon as they opened at 7:00 a.m., Hoffman sold Sharpe’s corn and had the proceeds credited to his own account. During that period, each time Hoffman took a load like that and sold it in his name, he was costing Sharpe about $6,500.
Orangeburg County Sheriff Leroy Ravenell has said that he also has several detectives working on similar cases involving Hoffman in his county. In that case, it is believed that Hoffman took 10 loads of corn that had a value of approximately $65,000.
Stealing feed corn is no laughing matter. The corn that Hoffman allegedly stole from Sharpe is used in the chicken, pork, and beef products. It is also used in the manufacture of many domesticated pet foods, and ethanol which is used mixed with gasoline and run in our car’s engine.
Hoffman was charged in Lexington County with Breach of Trust with Fraudulent Intent, more than $10,000 after they combined all loads into one count.
All suspects are innocent until proved guilty.
