Seneca Man arrested on Multiple Charges

The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office arrested a Seneca man Tuesday morning on multiple charges after deputies were dispatched to reports of a stolen vehicle, explains Oconee County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Jimmy Watt.  “According to the incident report, a deputy responded to the Seneca Walmart on Sandifer Boulevard around 9:02am in regards to reports of a stolen vehicle.  The complainant, a Wal-Mart employee, told the deputy that she came to work around 7:15am and when she came out around 9:30am to go on break, she discovered that her red 2008 Chevrolet Aveo was missing from the parking lot.  Dispatch issued a radio call for officers to be on the lookout for the vehicle. Upon further investigation and the viewing of the video from security camera’s the deputy identified a man wearing an orange color shirt walk through the parking lot and then get into the vehicle and drive away. A short time later, according to the incident report, a female subject notified the deputy that she heard about the stolen vehicle on the scanner and knew where the vehicle was.  The female told the deputy that the man, who she identified as 36-year-old William Jarred Richardson of Seneca, was now wearing a gray shirt that he had left her residence in the car and was heading to a boat ramp to leave the car and had left paperwork for the stolen vehicle at her residence.”  Deputies then responded to where the vehicle was last seen, which was the residence of the female witness at an address on Hemlock Road.  According to the incident report, Richardson was seen walking from the residence to an outbuilding with a set of car keys in his hand.  After being asked a few questions, Richardson was placed in investigative detention.   At the residence, deputies interviewed two witnesses.  The female witness told deputies that she left her residence and when she returned, she observed that Richardson had pulled a red in color car over at a ditch in front of her residence.  She said that Richardson told her that he had gotten the vehicle at Wal-Mart and that he wanted another shirt to put on.  She also told deputies that Richardson had been living in an outbuilding on her property at the Hemlock Road location, explains Watt.  “According to the incident report, a male friend of the female witness pulled up to the residence, where Richardson reportedly told the man to follow him to the boat ramp or that he would assault him.  The female witness told the deputies that she heard about the stolen vehicle on the scanner and then called to report it.  The man told deputies that he was scared and followed Richardson to the lake, where he observed Richardson drive the car into the lake. According to the incident report, the deputy from Oconee County responded to the boat ramp in Anderson County.  One of the deputies made contact with the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office concerning recovery of the vehicle that was in the lake.  The vehicle was removed from the lake and was towed away.  The car keys and other paperwork for the vehicle were returned to the owner.”  According to warrants, Richardson has been charged with grand larceny for stealing the vehicle from Wal-Mart, which is valued at around $14,000.  Warrants also charge Richardson with assault and battery in third degree due to threats made against the male at the Hemlock Road location.  A third warrant charges Richardson with driving under suspension, third offense since Richardson had two prior convictions for driving under suspension.   A hold has been placed on Richardson due to unrelated charges in Stephens County, Georgia.