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Daily Covid-19 admissions in the Orangeburg County area

About the data

Data is from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Hospitalization data is a daily average of Covid-19 patients in hospital service areas that intersect with Orangeburg County, an area which may be larger than Orangeburg County itself.

The number of daily hospital admissions shows how many patients were admitted to hospitals for Covid and is one of the most reliably reported indicators of Covid’s impact on a community.

Total population

Ages 65 and up

Total population

Ages 65 and up

An updated vaccine is recommended for adults and most children. Statewide, 7% of vaccinations did not specify a home county.

Nearby hospitals

Share of I.C.U. beds occupied

About this data Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Notes: The hospitals map shows the average I.C.U. occupancy at nearby hospitals in the most recent week with data reported. The data is self-reported to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services by individual hospitals. It excludes counts from hospitals operated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Indian Health Service. Numbers for hospitalized patients are based on inpatient beds and include I.C.U. beds. Hospitalized Covid-19 patients include both confirmed and suspected Covid-19 patients. The C.D.C. stopped reporting data on cases in May 2023.

How trends have changed in Orangeburg County

About this data Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Notes: Weekly county death data prior to Jan. 2021 was not reported by the C.D.C. and is sourced from reporting by The New York Times. Hospitalization data is a weekly average of Covid-19 patients in hospital service areas that intersect with Orangeburg County. Hospitalization numbers early in the pandemic are undercounts due to incomplete reporting by hospitals to the federal government.

Historical trends in Orangeburg County

The data in these charts has been archived and they are no longer being updated.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The data in these charts has been archived and they are no longer being updated. Weekly county case data prior to Jan. 2021 was not reported by the C.D.C. and is sourced from reporting by The New York Times. The C.D.C. stopped reporting data on cases in May 2023. Test positivity data is based only on test results reported to the federal government and is a seven-day average.

“I am deeply disturbed by the deplorable conditions in which we found the victims involved in these heinous crimes against humanity,” said Orangeburg Department of Public Safety Chief Charles Austin, Sr. “I commend Sergeant Deloris Edmunds and the team that worked with her to investigate and uncover the atrocities that were committed against some of our vulnerable citizens whose families entrusted the personal care of their loved ones to the suspects and their trust was betrayed.”

ORANGEBURG COUNTY, S.C. (WACH) — Investigators with the Orangeburg Department of Public Safety (ODPS) say five vulnerable adults ranging in age from 52 to 99 were in imminent danger when they were found in heavily soiled undergarments in the back of a Broughton Street barbershop.

During the December 27 investigation, officials say they were told that a man inside a closet room area ate himself to death and passed away on Christmas Eve, according to the incident report.

ODPS officials say bond was set a $30,000 for 40-year-old Shaneima Montgomery of Saint George on January 5 in connection to the crimes.

The Lemon Drive woman was arrested on January 4 and is charged with five counts of neglect and financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult.

Montgomery was allegedly receiving varying payment amounts for the victims' care at the Broughton Street and a location on Lovell Street.

According to an incident report, Montgomery is the owner of Blue Ink Sign Inc (487 Broughton Street) and is registered with the South Carolina Secretary of State as a nonprofit.

The use of the business is listed as administrative management and general management consulting services.

ODPS investigators were conducting a follow up from December 19 when they say the victims were found.

At the time of the initial visit, investigators say they saw a customer get a haircut and a Business and Professional License to Jerry's Professional Barber (967 Russell St., 29115) on the wall.

According to the incident report the victims were identified as a 99-year-old Black female, a 52-year-old Black female, an 80-year-old white male, 63-year-old white male, 73-year-old white male.

The door of one of the victims was locked from the outside preventing them to leave the room and a box of used needles were found on the floor of another victim.

The incident reports also states:

These are just some of the reasons this building is deemed unsafe for the vulnerable adults; however, there are many more, the incident report states.

All the victims were taken to MUSC Health Orangeburg for treatment.

The Orangeburg Department of Public Safety is still investigating the case.

HOLLY HILL, S.C. (WIS) - As the family of an Orangeburg County woman who went missing four months ago seeks answers, the Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office is releasing new information about the case.

Melissa Aguilar of Holly Hill was reported missing by an ex-boyfriend on Aug. 18, an Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office report states.

Deputies said Friday in a statement that it put out a public call for leads after an “unconfirmed report of a possible sighting.”

Investigators believe she left a home on Fourwind Road, which is in an unincorporated area of Orangeburg County, after an argument with her ex.

Aguilar’s youngest daughter, Shanna Brown, said the last four months have been excruciatingly painful. Brown said she used to speak with her mother every day and the fear of the unknown has caused her “anger, heartache, and worry.”

“It’s been really hard trying to juggle a job and put on a smile and act like nothing’s wrong when there’s so much wrong,” she said.

Brown described her last conversation with her mother on Aug. 17, the night before she was reported missing. She said Aguilar sounded upbeat and happy during that call. She was excited about her oldest daughter’s upcoming wedding in September, and the pair discussed Brown’s future wedding plans as well, Brown said.

Immediately following her disappearance, the sheriff’s office shared the information with the local newspaper, but did not put out a public release through its official channels, nor send the information to other news outlets, WIS-TV reported.

The Sheriff’s Office provided written answers to some questions Friday, but an investigator familiar with the case was not made available for an on-camera interview.

The agency did not provide any specifics about who reported the “unconfirmed report of a possible sighting” or when or where the sighting happened.

Family members, however, say they fear Aguilar is gone.

“She would’ve come back by now, or at least called somebody,” Brown said.

Sarah Shipman, Aguilar’s sister, agrees and said she does not believe that her sibling would vanish without her belongings, and miss important family events.

There was a law enforcement presence at Aguilar’s last-known location, the place she was staying with her ex-boyfriend on Fourwind Road, throughout the morning on Friday.

The sheriff’s office said they could not provide details out of concern that doing so could “jeopardize the case.”

“I wish that they would’ve done a lot more than what they did in the beginning,” Brown said.

Brown implored the community to come forward with information, regardless of how inconsequential it may seem.

“If they see anything, they think they see anything, if they hear anything, that we just want to know, we just want to get an idea, a lead, anything so we could bring her home, alive or not,” she said.

The sheriff’s office declined to answer questions about whether there is a suspect or person of interest in the case, saying they “cannot comment on particulars of an investigation.”

The public is asked to contact the Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office with tips, leads or information, at 803-534-3550.

Copyright 2023 WIS. All rights reserved.

Orangeburg Department of Public Safety

A 77-year-old Orangeburg man was found dead in his Whitman Street apartment on Wednesday afternoon.

Robert B. Sherman had been dead for approximately four to five weeks, according to what Orangeburg County Deputy Coroner Valencia Golden told officers.

Public safety officers were called to the man’s apartment around 2:05 p.m. after a neighbor reported she and other residents hadn’t seen the man in the past three or four weeks.

Officers knocked on the man’s door, but no one answered.

They then looked into the residence from a rear window and saw Sherman’s body on the floor.

Firefighters arrived and forced entry into the man’s home.

Sherman’s death remains under investigation.

In an unrelated report, a Holly Hill man is accused of driving a stolen white BMW.

Demarcus Hykeem Oshaug Duncan, 24, of 1146 Toney Bay Road, is facing one count of possession of a stolen vehicle.

Officers became aware of the vehicle at 2 a.m. Thursday when a BMW loss prevention employee reported tracking it to the American Inn, located at 610 John C. Calhoun Drive.

When officers arrived, they saw someone backing the BMW into a parking space there.

Officers ordered the driver out of the BMW at gunpoint.

The man got out of the BMW with his hands raised, but hadn’t placed the gear in park, an incident report said.

As officers approached him, he allegedly began to flee and the BMW began to roll backwards.

One officer took off after the man while another officer jumped in the BMW and placed the gear in park.

The officer caught the man just before he could jump over a brick wall, the report said.

A dispatcher radioed that the man had outstanding warrants from the Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office and the S.C. Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services.

Officers claim they found multi-colored gummies inside the man’s jacket pocket. The gummies will be tested for drugs.

The man was loaded into the backseat of a patrol car.

As an officer attempted to get a pair of gloves from the trunk of the car, he heard the man choking.

When the officer opened the door, she saw the seatbelt wrapped around the man’s neck. The officer believes he was trying to harm himself, the report said.

Officers got the seatbelt from around the man’s neck and took him to the Orangeburg County Detention Center.

If convicted, Duncan faces up to 10 years in prison.

A 35-year-old Orangeburg man is accused of digging his fingernails into a deputy’s hand while at the Orangeburg County Courthouse, located at 151 Docket Street.

Trenton Jaquan Lightsey, of Belleville Road, faces one count of assaulting a law enforcement officer.

The incident began just after 10 a.m. Wednesday.

The man entered the courthouse and went through the metal detectors.

Courthouse security deputies asked the man where he needed to go, but the man didn’t answer.

A deputy noted that due to the man’s demeanor and for the safety of those in the courthouse, he activated his body-worn camera and intercepted the man, blocking his path down the hall.

The deputy told the man that he needed to say where he was going.

The man then walked on the other side of the hall to try to go further into the courthouse.

The deputy blocked the man again.

Another deputy grabbed the man, attempting to gain control over him.

Deputies told the man that he just needed to say where he was going.

The man allegedly pulled away from deputies and didn’t want to show them his hands.

At that point, a deputy claims his right hand was grabbed by the man. The man used his fingernails and dug into the bottom of the deputy’s thumb and hand.

Deputies took the man into custody, telling him that he was under arrest for assaulting an officer.

Orangeburg County Chief Magistrate Derrick Dash set Lightsey’s bond at $7,500 cash or surety. Lightsey has since bonded out of jail.

Lucille R. Rivas, 61, of Whitman Street, Orangeburg, is facing six counts of neglect of a vulnerable adult.

Shaneima Arnise Montgomery, 40, of Bowman and St. George, was also charged with six counts of neglect of a vulnerable adult earlier this month.

Six adults were taken into emergency protective custody on Dec. 27, according to an Orangeburg Department of Public Safety incident report.

The adults include a 52-year-old woman, a 54-year-old woman, a 63-year-old man, a 73-year-old man, an 80-year-old man and a 99-year-old woman.

The residents were taken to MUSC Health-Orangeburg to get checked out. They are now under the care of the S.C. Department of Social Services.

The vulnerable adults were allegedly staying at 487 Broughton Street. A business license for a Russell Street barbershop was displayed at the building, the report said.

An investigator wrote in her report that some of the vulnerable adults living there were using supplemental oxygen.

The investigator noted there were two bathrooms consisting of only a toilet and sink, but there were no places to bathe or shower.

The investigator also reported that the building didn’t have a kitchen, but did have refrigerator, microwave and a residential stove.

Frozen meals were in the freezer.

The rooms where the adults were living had keyed entries, allowing the adults to be locked in their rooms, the report claims.

One adult was allegedly housed in a storage-type of room. Feces was on the bedding of the person housed in this room, the report claims.

The building had a “very strong odor of urine scent and several of the victims were in heavily soiled undergarments,” the report states.

In addition, ODPS claims the building was not licensed by the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control as a residential care facility. ODPS says the building is in an area zoned for commercial use.

The building also allegedly didn’t have handrails to support adults with mobility concerns.

Warrants claim Rivas was an employee of Carolina Southern Living and a caretaker to the six adults. Carolina Southern Living is registered to Montgomery, according to the S.C. Secretary of State’s Office

Additional ODPS reports claim that each of the vulnerable adults was transferred from a Lovell Street home to the Broughton Street office building on Dec. 9, 2023.

According to Orangeburg County court records, the Lovell Street landlord filed a civil claim against Montgomery in December 2023. The complaint claims Montgomery began defaulting on rent in July 2023 and the months that followed.

Montgomery began making reduced rent payments of $2,500 a month, the complaint says.

The landlord is seeking $10,000 from Montgomery.

ODPS’s case remains under investigation.

If Montgomery and Rivas are convicted, they each face up to five years in prison for each count of neglect of a vulnerable adult.