WALTERBORO, SC (January 20, 2023) – Four men who burglarized Lowcountry homes on weekdays, then sold their pilfered goods at swap meets and flea markets on the weekends have been sent to prison.
Law enforcement dubbed the men the “Pillowcase Bandits” because they often carried away stolen items in pillowcases also taken from the homes they robbed.
Brandon Sean Roberts of North Charleston pleaded guilty Tuesday in Colleton County General Sessions Court to three charges of second-degree burglary, one count of third-degree burglary and two counts of grand larceny. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison. In 2022, his three co-defendants pleaded guilty and were sentenced. They are:
- Eric Youngblood of Sumter, who pleaded to eight charges of second-degree burglary and was sentenced to 15 years;
- Daniel Lebron Quarles of Ridgeville, who pleaded to five charges of second-degree burglary and was sentenced to 15 years;
- John Paul Thompson of Ladson, who pleaded to two charges of receiving stolen goods and received 15 years.
The charges covered offenses committed in Colleton and in Berkeley counties and were prosecuted by Tameaka A. Legette of the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office. She handled the cases originating in Berkeley County, which is in the neighboring 9th Judicial Circuit, because a prosecutor there was among the ring’s victims.
Charges in other counties are still pending against Youngblood and Thompson. They are innocent until and unless proven guilty in court.
“These men would ‘work’ during the day, burglarizing homes while their victims were at their jobs doing honest work,” Legette said. “They stole from people across the Lowcountry and up and down the Interstate 95 corridor. They were prolific, and they were menaces to this state.”
Jewelry, masonry equipment, prescription medications, and air rifles and other guns were among the items the stolen.
The ring was stopped after DNA collected from a victim’s home connected Thompson to the crime. The Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office began surveilling Thompson and followed him to a storage unit in North Charleston, which was filled with stolen items.
Thompson’s record includes convictions for possession of cocaine, shoplifting and second-degree burglary. Roberts has previous convictions for assault and battery, domestic violence and violation of a protective order. Youngblood’s record includes shoplifting, grand theft, attempted burglary and a probation violation. Quarles has a conviction for driving under the influence.
Circuit Court Judge Benjamin Culbertson handed down Roberts’ sentence Tuesday.
Legette is a member of the Solicitor’s Office Career Criminal Unit, which prosecutes the circuit’s most violent and habitual offenders. That team has earned convictions against 436 of the 471 defendants it has prosecuted since its inception in 2009.
