Tidbits

 

The local media is reporting on a traffic fatality from this past Sunday night on Wildgame Road. The passenger of the vehicle involved, Derrick Lawrence, was killed when the driver lost control, ran off the road and hit a power pole. We have been contacted by multiple citizens who say they witnessed at least two patrol cars from the Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office pursuing the vehicle immediately before the collision. Other citizens who lived near the crash thought it was strange that law enforcement was on the scene within seconds and no calls to 911 were needed.

 

In other news, child molester Phillip Simoneaux has had his probation revoked by Judge Roger Young and is being sent to prison. We first wrote about Simoneaux in July of 2014. We recommend reading that post before you proceed. The way the victim was treated by the 5th Circuit Solicitor is simply horrendous.

In July we were informed Simoneaux had picked up an additional charge stemming from his 2014 violation of probation when agents found child porn on his computer. If that is true, he was never incarcerated for that charge and the data never made it’s way into the Charleston County database. For all intents and purposes, the record shows no charge for that offense, other than the probation violation.

Due to funding and personnel problems with the SC Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services we have to spend time in these pages calling them out for the lack of supervision of many convicts on probation or parole. The problems at SCDPPPS are the result of a lack of attention to the agency and the failure to provide proper administration and resources. The agents do what they can, but are overwhelmed by case loads and lack of support. In light of this, we are happy to report that agents went to Simoneaux’s North Charleston home on or about March 10th and reportedly found pornography on his computer. Simoneaux was incarcerated on yet another probation violation.

Probation agents get a “job well done” for that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The fact that pornography was found on this sex offender’s computers yet again made it extremely difficult for any defense attorney to argue the court ordered counseling Simoneaux had been through had been effective. As a result, Judge Young remanded Simoneaux to the SC Department of Corrections, but will allow him to remain in custody in Charleston County pending the resolution of some medical issues at the VA hospital. Sources tell us Judge Young also ordered an evaluation to determine if Simoneaux should be classified as a sexual predator. Well, yeah - we thought that would be obvious by now. Should Simoneaux receive that classification, we are told current law allows the state to hold him in an institution indefinitely, even beyond the expiration of any prison time.