Additional Charges filed against Westminster Man

The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office has filed additional charges against a Westminster man who was arrested on Aug. 30, 2018, reports Public Information Officer Jimmy Watt. “The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office issued a press release seeking the public’s help locating 26-year-old Joseph Edward Kinsel as a person of interest in several Westminster area burglaries and larcenies. Soon after the press release was issued that evening, Kinsel was apprehended behind a business on South Radio Station Road near Highway 123 in Seneca and was transported to Oconee Memorial Hospital for treatment due to an issue unrelated to this arrest. Kinsel was then released from the hospital the next afternoon and was booked into the Oconee County Detention Center. He was initially charged with two counts of grand larceny and one count of third degree burglary related to an incident at an address on Dr. John’s Road near Westminster. Kinsel was also charged with failure to stop for a blue light in regards to an incident in which deputies pursued Kinsel on Johnson Street in Westminster on a four-wheeler that was reported stolen. Kinsel refused to pull over and went off the road behind a business in Westminster and was not apprehended. Since that time, Kinsel has remained in custody at the Oconee County Detention Center on a combined $29,000 surety bond as the Sheriff’s Office continued the investigation. A hold was also placed on Kinsel by the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office. As the investigation continued, an investigator from the Criminal Investigation Division obtained additional arrest warrants this week charging Kinsel with six counts of petit larceny, four counts of breaking into a motor vehicle, two counts of third degree burglary and one count each of financial transaction card theft and financial card fraud. The additional charges are related to incidents that occurred at separate addresses on Dr. John’s Road near Westminster that are different addresses from the one from which the original charges against Kinsel were filed in late August.” At this time, Kinsel remains in custody at the Oconee County Detention Center on a combined $74,500 surety bond on all charges.