Aiken man sentenced to 19 years stemming from 2019 home invasion

  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
Landon Stamper, Aiken Standard, S.C.
·1 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

May 14—An Aiken man was sentenced Friday to 19 years in prison due to his involvement in a 2019 home invasion.

Christopher Lee Sanders, of Aiken, was found guilty of first-degree burglary, armed robbery and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.

The incident in question occurred on Oct. 11, 2019, when deputies responded to a home off Reynolds Pond Road in reference to a home invasion.

Sanders was alleged to have gone inside the home and robbed an 80-year-old man at gunpoint, according to Ashley Hammack, deputy solicitor. Sanders stole the contents of a safe and the victim's wallet and money, Hammack said.

One of Sanders' co-defendants who committed the robbery with him detailed the plan and what happened during the incident in his testimony, Hammack said.

Judge Courtney Clyburn Pope was the judge in the case, which began Tuesday.

Recommended Stories

  • Biden told staff not to serve leafy greens because he didn't want to be photographed with leaves in his teeth, report says

    The New York Times also reported President Biden's preferred drink is the controversial Orange Gatorade.

  • Lyft attack: Police investigating pistol whipped assault on Taiwanese driver for racial motives

    Driver Paul Liao says attacker asked about ethnic background before striking him with gun

  • A TikToker discovered a hidden staircase leading to a secret basement in their house

    Ripped-up posters cover the walls of the hidden basement, and some TikToker users said they were thoroughly creeped out in the comments section.

  • Washington mayor seen in profane shirt at Costco reacts to criticism: ‘I had no idea’

    “Your words do not represent our community.”

  • CVS worker forged COVID vaccine cards so kids could go to school in New York, cops say

    Police said the man told them, “I sell the cards to kids, so they can go to school.”

  • Driver catches fire after hoarded gas in vehicle explodes during chase, SC cops say

    The driver told deputies “that she was transporting several containers of fuel that she was hoarding in the trunk.”

  • What is going on with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene? Here is what happened this week

    This week Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene repeatedly made headlines after confrontations on Capitol Hill.

  • A man accused of storming the Capitol with a giant Confederate flag will get to go on a family road trip while awaiting trial

    Kevin Seefried was approved to take his scheduled family trip to Salvo, North Carolina, on May 15, court documents show.

  • Ethereum co-founder and Crypto billionaire donates $1bn to India Covid fight – and currency instantly plummets

    Some of the ‘meme coins’ that were donated tanked in value by nearly 40%

  • Singapore was one of the safest places to live in the world just two weeks ago. Now it's moving back under heavy COVID restrictions.

    A sudden surge in locally transmitted cases has prompted the city's government to roll back and reinstate more restrictive COVID rules.

  • Thai PM tells UN envoy he won't push back Myanmar refugees

    Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha promised a United Nations special envoy on Friday that he will not force back people fleeing violence in neighboring Myanmar, where the military ousted a democratically elected government in February. U.N. Special Envoy on Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener told Prayuth in a meeting in Bangkok that she hopes Thailand will help find ways to work with Myanmar’s military to ease the crisis, the prime minister’s office said in a statement. People across Myanmar have participated in massive protests against the military coup.

  • Some Latin American countries endorse Hamas’ violence against Israel. It’s shameful | Opinion

    While the Biden administration and several Latin American countries have rightly supported Israel’s right to defend itself from the more than 2,000 Hamas rockets launched against Israel’s civilian population, the reaction by other countries in the region has been pathetic.

  • Bernie Sanders condemns what he calls 'racist nationalism' from Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu while calling for an immediate ceasefire

    "No one is arguing that Israel, or any government, does not have the right to self-defense," Sanders wrote, adding Palestinians need attention too.

  • ‘I Wanted Trump to Win’: Husband Charged in Wife’s Murder Also Used Her Name to Vote

    Chaffee County Sheriff’s OfficeFive months after Suzanne Morphew vanished without a trace while out on a bike ride last Mother’s Day, the Chaffee County Clerk’s Office in Colorado received a bizarre notification: a mail-in ballot for the 2020 election had been submitted under her name.When a Chaffee County sergeant went to the clerk’s office to check out the ballot, he saw that it had been handwritten and dated Oct. 15, 2020—and included the signature of her husband, Barry Lee Morphew, on the witness line.But according to an arrest affidavit obtained by The Daily Beast, authorities did not question the 53-year-old dad about his alleged voter fraud until April 22, just days before he was charged with first-degree murder and a slew of other crimes in connection with his wife’s disappearance.“I wanted Trump… to win,” Morphew told FBI agents when questioned about submitting his wife’s voting ballot. “I just thought, give him… another vote. I figured all these other guys are cheating.”‘A Terrible Thing’: Husband of Colorado Mom Who Vanished on Mother’s Day Charged With MurderMorphew added that he knew his wife “was going to vote for Trump anyway” and insisted he didn’t know you couldn’t vote on behalf of “your spouse.” Investigators also noted in the affidavit that Morphew submitted his own mail-in ballot at the same time.But authorities believe Morphew intentionally took advantage of his wife’s disappearance to ensure another vote for the former president. On Thursday night, prosecutors charged him with one felony count of forgery of public records and one misdemeanor count of elections-mail-ballot offense.While his bond was set at $1,000 for the new charges, Morphew is already being held without bail on the charges in connection with his wife’s May 10, 2020 disappearance. Investigators, however, have still not found the mother of two, and have thus kept Morphew’s arrest affidavit under seal since his May 5 arrest.The Chaffee County District Court is expected to unseal the affidavit as early as May 27 in a case that has garnered national attention and confounded investigators for months. Authorities began an investigation into Suzanne Morphew’s disappearance on May 10 after a neighbor reported she did not return home from a bike ride. For days, local and federal authorities conducted an exhaustive search over the 2.5-mile area near her Maysville, Colorado home. Police now believe that a “certain scenario” occurred near her home that resulted in the discovery of her bike—but not her body.How Cops Took Down an Alleged Tree-Trimming Serial Killer Mid-MurderOn May 17, Morphew, who was reportedly out of town the day his wife went missing, released a video pleading for her safe return alongside a social-media campaign to aid in the investigation. He also offered a $200,000 reward for information about her whereabouts.“Oh Suzanne, if anyone is out there that can hear this, that has you, please, we’ll do whatever it takes to bring you back. We love you. We miss you. The girls need you. No questions asked. However much they want, I will do whatever it takes to get you back. Honey, I love you. I want you back so bad,” he said in the May video.Despite Morphew’s public pleas for his wife, questions began to surface about his possible role in her disappearance, including reports that he had scrubbed his Denver hotel room clean around the same time she went missing. Morphew, however, denied the claims.“People don’t know the truth, so they’re gonna think what they’re gonna think,” Morphew said in one rare August interview with Fox21 before insisting that unfair media coverage of his wife’s case made him out to be a villain.Morphew also slammed the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office during the interview, stating he believed the local authorities “screwed this whole [investigation] up from the beginning and now they are trying to cover it up and blame it on me.” A lawyer for Morphew did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

  • Israeli ground troops join the fight near Gaza, raising threat of war

    Israeli ground troops have joined the fight near the Gaza Strip, the Israel Defense Forces announced on Thursday night. Driving the news: While tanks and artillery were deployed for the first time on Thursday, the IDF says no ground troops have crossed into Gaza. Israel has called up 9,000 reservists and massed at least three brigades on the frontier with Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas.Get market news worthy of your time with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free.The last ground war between Israel and Hamas took place in 2014.The big picture: The current escalation began on Monday in Jerusalem, where Palestinians were protesting the planned evictions of six Palestinian families in favor of Jewish settlers, and Israeli nationalists were planning an annual march to celebrate the reunification of the city under Israeli control.With the city braced for violence, Israeli police raided the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, or Temple Mount, and violently dispersed Palestinian protesters, some of whom were throwing stones.As images from al-Aqsa spread around the region, Hamas warned that they would attack Israel if Israeli police didn’t leave the compound, one of the holiest sites for both Muslims and Jews.An air war has followed, with Hamas firing thousands of rockets from Gaza and Israel conducting airstrikes, which the Gaza Health Ministry says have killed at least 109 Palestinians, including 28 children. Several high-rise buildings have been toppled, and the Israeli military says it has killed several Hamas commanders.One Israeli soldier and six others, including one child in Israel have been killed by Hamas attacks, which have targeted Israel's largest cities. Most of the rockets fired from Gaza have been intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome aerial defense system.International actors including the UN, U.S. and Egypt have been attempting to prevent further escalation, though the Biden administration has repeatedly emphasized Israel’s right to defend itself and has not publicly called for a ceasefire.Meanwhile, in the streets of Israeli cities with Jewish and Arab residents, horrific scenes of mob violence have unfolded over the past three nights, with both Arab and Jewish individuals and businesses targeted.It’s the worst inter-communal violence in Israel since the start of the Second Intifada in 2000, Axios’ Barak Ravid reports.Thursday's escalation comes on the Eid al-Fitr holiday, normally a joyous day on which Muslims celebrate the end of Ramadan.Go deeper: Israel's "change bloc" collapses, leaving Netanyahu in chargeEditor's note: This story has been updated to reflect that the IDF confirmed no ground troops have entered Gaza. Like this article? Get more from Axios and subscribe to Axios Markets for free.

  • 2 NYC mayoral candidates accuse Andrew Yang of cheating on a New York Times pop quiz about housing costs and homelessness

    Advisers to Shaun Donovan and Scott Stringer both told New York Magazine that they doubted Yang answered the questions without getting help.

  • Earth's stratosphere has been shrinking for 40 years. That could one day screw with orbiting satellites.

    The stratosphere - the layer of Earth's atmosphere between 7.5 and 31 miles up - is shrinking due to greenhouse-gas emissions, a new study found.

  • Costco will no longer require fully vaccinated customers to wear masks in stores, except in states that still have mask mandates

    The company posted an updated mask policy following the CDC's guidance that fully vaccinated people can mostly stop wearing masks.

  • Judge Judy thinks it's funny people cared so much when she ditched her iconic hairdo

    Judge Judy explained to THR why she changed her look after 22 years to be more comfortable and more conscious of her time.

  • What can happen if kids want a COVID vaccine — but parents refuse? Experts weigh in

    It varies depending on which state you live in.