Hilton Head security help police with multiple overnight car thefts at Hilton Head resort
Hilton Head SC Aug 6 2021 Recent car break-ins in a Hilton Head gated community led to at least two stolen cars, a stolen gun, a police chase and one juvenile being detained, according to Palmetto Dunes’ security chief.
The thefts started Tuesday evening at Palmetto Dunes, an oceanfront vacation resort on Hilton Head Island, according to Security Chief Jim Griner.
About 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, security footage showed two stolen vehicles leaving Palmetto Dunes. Extra security patrols were added to the area in response to the thefts, with a focus on single-family homes along the ocean, Griner said.
Around 1:48 a.m. on Friday, the security team received a 911 hang-up call about men dressed in all black trying to break into a car on Cat Boat. Deputies were called when a person matching that description was spotted on the porch of a home on Mooring Buoy near Cat Boat by security staff, Griner said.
While police interviewed the person, who was visiting the area, a black pickup truck — one of the vehicles reported stolen — drove by, Griner said. Two men dressed in dark clothing with hoods over their heads passed deputies and sped off, Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Maj. Bob Bromage said.
The deputies chased them, “in the area of the Disney resort, near what used to be the Shelter Cove Mall,” Griner said. A person jumped from the moving vehicle, and the truck hit a light pole, Bromage said.
Deputies detained one of the suspects, a juvenile, who was taken to the Juvenile Justice Center in Columbia, Bromage said. The second suspect got away and has not been found, Bromage said.
Griner called the break-ins “crimes of opportunity.” The keys to the truck were stolen from another vehicle in the community that was left unlocked, he said. A firearm was inside the truck, Griner said.
“Folks are coming into the community, and maybe they’re in vacation mode and not thinking about locking their doors,” Griner said. “We have people that leave their garage doors open. In fact, one of the homes that these guys went to on the second night, they actually went into the garage and, I believe, went into a vehicle there just rummaging through it.”
In his 12 years as Security Chief at Palmetto Dunes, Griner said he recalls “just a couple” of cases where someone has had to force their way into a vehicle. And that is when items of value are in plain sight, he said.
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