North Augusta Robbery Suspect Arrested

North Augusta, SC—According to Lt. Tim Thornton, the North Augusta Department of Public Safety (NADPS) responded to a tip claiming to have direct personal knowledge of a pending armed robbery of a local business as their employee made the night deposit at their bank. This information was received by members of the Criminal Investigation Division and a plan was devised to successfully prevent the crime from occurring.

The suspect has been identified as William Keith Hamilton, Jr., 23, from Belvedere, SC.

According to the source, Hamilton knew when Dollar Tree usually dropped their nightly deposit at the Bank of America on West Martintown Road.  Hamilton needed a getaway driver and contacted Public Safety’s source for help. Throughout the brief investigation, the source proved himself to be a reliable informant to law enforcement and agreed to make himself available to assist with the investigation. Hamilton was to call Public Safety’s informant for a ride at the appropriate time. Law Enforcement positioned themselves in strategic locations around the bank and waited for their arrival. 

Hamilton was let out west of the bank and walked to the bank alone. He arrived and waited in the bushes for Dollar Tree’s night deposit. Officers quickly confronted Hamilton as he was hiding from other bank customers using the ATM. He was arrested without incident. The search of Hamilton subsequent to arrest found a fully loaded 12-gauge shotgun in his possession with extra ammo in his pocket. Hamilton was transported to NADPS where booked and incarcerated. Dollar Tree’s nightly deposit was made without incident.

Follow up investigation into this matter found no evidence to support connecting this attempted armed robbery with other unsolved robberies in the area during the past few weeks. Law Enforcement believes Hamilton acted alone except for his recruiting of the informant to drive.