Seven Washington teens charged for B&Es

Published 8:18 pm Wednesday, February 14, 2018

From late November 2017 through late January 2018, the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office received 15 separate breaking and entering reports from residents in the Washington area of Beaufort County. During most of the break-ins, the most common items stolen were guns, money, jewelry and small electronic devices. Identifying the suspects was made possible when they took credit cards from one of the victims and used them in Washington and Greenville at stores equipped with video surveillance.

After an investigation that lasted a little over two months, which included witness statements and the service of a search warrant on the home of Zamian Harris, Beaufort County Sheriff’s investigators identified seven suspects, all from Washington, who were in some way involved in the break-ins and or received and fenced the stolen property.

In eight out of the 15 reported cases, investigators have charged Roman Torres, 21, Aimee Chavez, 18, Dulce Gobellan-Ponce, 18, Zamian Harris, 17, Dequan Blount, 19, and Tavone Boyd, 17, with a combined total of 15 counts of felony breaking and entering, 15 counts of felony larceny after breaking and entering, six counts of larceny of a firearm, eight counts of obtaining property by false pretense, one count of conspiracy and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Hailey Cherry, 16, is currently in the Moore County Detention Center and is also facing charges in these cases.

Torres, Chavez, Gobellan-Ponce and Harris have all been arrested and were ordered held in the Beaufort County Detention Center on secured bonds, ranging from $10,000 to $15,000.  Dequan Blount and Tavone Boyd have yet to be arrested.

Investigators are still working on linking these suspects to the other seven break-ins and expect more charges in those cases.

A photo of Blount was not available.