Preston Swinton was arrested Sunday night by NCPD and CCSO after a vehicle pursuit that began at McMillan and Spruill and ended in Mt. Pleasant when a deputy spiked the tires on the suspect’s vehicle. Three of the four maggots managed to elude police by fleeing on foot. Preston Swinton wasn’t so lucky and was rounded up.
Swinton was charged with Possession of Crack Cocaine, Possession of a Stolen Pistol and Unlawful Possession of a Long Gun. It seems he was found with a stolen 9mm Hi-Point pistol and an AR-15 type rifle.
That last charge is not showing up on his jail entry and no bond was set for it. Bonds on the other two charges was set at a total of $110,000.
Now, we know you have already heard about this story on the local “news” sites, but our job it to give you the information they refuse to. Information like the fact that Swinton is free on multiple bonds from charges pending from 2011 and 2012. Let’s review his complete history in Charleston County.
2010 Charges:
Unlawful Carrying of a Handgun - Dismissed by the 9th Circuit Solicitor in May of 2011.
Three months after the 9th Circuit Solicitor dismissed that gun charge, Swinton was arrested again. This time he was charged with robbing a Piggly Wiggly in Mt. Pleasant.
2011 Charges:
Armed Robbery - Pending - Free on a $75,000 bond. It appears Swinton initially had a bond of $100,000, but that was reduced by Judge James ‘Rainbows and Unicorns” Gosnell. Swinton is also supposed to be on house arrest. His bond was actually vacated at one point, then reinstated and a different bond company got him out of jail. That company filed a motion to vacate bond today.
While Swinton was on “house arrest” he was arrested again in 2012. We did not find any news reports about this robbery arrest.
2012 Charges:
Armed Robbery - Pending - Free on a $0 personal recognizance bond set by Judge Deadre Jefferson four months after his arrest. There is no record of the original bond amount.
Kidnapping - Pending - Free on a $5,000 personal recognizance bond set by Judge Deadre Jefferson.
Kidnapping - Pending - Free on a $0 personal recognizance bond set by Judge Deadre Jefferson.
So, here was have a guy with a pending armed robbery charge, arrested again for armed robbery and two counts of kidnapping while he is supposed to be on house arrest and Judge Deadre Jefferson gives him a personal recognizance bond. We would love to hear the explanation for that. Unfortunately, we never will.
Swinton has also been arrested a few times since 2012 on municipal/magistrate level charges like trespassing and possession of marijuana.
We decided to poke around a bit and came up with a known associate and fellow member of Swinton’s robbery crew who might have been one of those who fled from police. Meet Dante Smalls. He has been arrested with Swinton before and is also free on pending charges dating back to 2011.
2011 Charges:
Armed Robbery - Pending - Free on a bond that Judge Thomas “Felon’s Friend” Hughston combined with a bond on a 2012 charge after Smalls’ original bond was revoked in 2013.
2012 Charges:
Armed Robbery - Pending - Free on a $100,000 bond (combined with 2011 charge).
Two (2) counts of Kidnapping - See above.
While free on the initial bond on these charges, Smalls was arrested again in December of 2012 and charged with Unlawful Carrying of a Pistol. This charge is also pending and he is free on a $10,000 bond.
On 2nd of August, 2014 while free on all of the above charges, Smalls was charged with Unlawful Carrying of a Pistol and Distribution of Crack Cocaine. He was given a $50,000 bond on each charge and was released from jail yet again on the 15th of August.
Maybe NCPD and CCSO can review their in-car videos and ID Smalls as one of those who fled on foot. It’s worth a shot.
The other two members of Swinton’s 2011 armed robbery crew are currently doing time in prison for Piggly Wiggly robbery and the robbery of an Oriental restaurant. Jarret Graddick is doing a 20 year bid while Kenneth Murray is in for 28.
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