Pair Arrested for Bungled Gilbert Burglary

If you've been out at a bar and later put your car in a ditch, your first inclination might be to seek help, and very discretely. But a pair of local men chose otherwise on Monday.

They decided to break into a house instead.

Now, they're in jail, facing second-degree burglary charges, said Lexington County Sheriff James Metts.

On Monday, deputies arrested Brian Michael Hensley, 26, of 805 Howard Street, Columbia, and Riley Aaron Sease, 24, of 209 Skylight Drive, West Columbia. Both men were being held Monday at the Lexington County Detention Center while awaiting bond hearings.

The two men, according to a press release, were driving home from a bar around 1:20 a.m. on Monday when they drove their car into a ditch in front of a home on O’Neal Shealy Road near Gilbert, Metts said. 

After determining they could not get the car out of the ditch, Hensley and Sease allegedly decided to break into the home, which was being used as storage, Metts said. 

Deputies were alerted to the scene when the owner called, saying he had seen Hensley and Sease allegedly enter the home, "where the two men broke glass, slammed doors and shouted profanities," Metts said.

The arrest was made by Deputy James Kemfort, who reportedly caught one of the men coming out of the home, while the other was standing on the porch. Kemfort approached Sease and Hensley and arrested the two men without incident, Metts said.

Deputies found that a glass panel had been broken in the home’s front door. Officers also found signs of forced entry at a side window at the rear of the home as well as an entry door at the side of the residence, the sheriff said.

The two men's haul? Two purses, one saw, one hedge trimmer, and one checkbook, said Metts.