Nightclub Break-in Nets Three Arrests

A Lexington man and two others from Columbia are being accused of breaking into the Pelion Social Club and stealing money and booze, authorities said Thursday.

Lexington County Sheriff's detectives arrested Mark Lee Hartley, 25, of 179 Doe Trail, Lexington, along with Brendon Douglas James Lariviere, 17, of 4124 Spring Hill Road, Columbia, and James Kyle Stowers, 19, of 1126 Cedar Terrace, Columbia. All three men have been charged with second-degree burglary. 

The LCSD partnered with Pelion and Swansea police in making the arrests, following the July 26 burglary at the club, located at 1030 U.S. 178 near Pelion.

Hartley has been released from the Lexington County Detention Center after posting $75,000 bail. Lariviere and Stowers were still being held on Thursday on $95,000 bail each, Lexington County Sheriff James Metts said. 

Arrest warrants allege that early in the morning on July 26, Hartley, Lariviere and Stowers broke into the Pelion Social Club, using a hatchet to break out the glass in the night club’s front door, Metts said. The men allegedly stole four bottles of liquor as well as an old glass pickle jar from the club’s bar that contained $59 in coins.

Hartley, Lariviere and Stowers then allegedly went to a store that has a CoinStar machine, which enabled them to exchange the $59 in coins for cash that they later used to buy alcohol, Metts said.