Taylors man assaulted, robbed last week while doing yard work on Woodlawn Avenue

Staff Writer

A second man is accused of being involved in the beating and armed robbery of a man who was doing yard work.

Anthony Lee Beacham, 38, of 101-B Calhoun St. was arrested Friday evening by the Union Public Safety Department. He and Terry Lee Harris, 46, of 128 Woodlawn Ave., both are charged with armed robbery, assault and battery with intent to kill and kidnapping. They are accused of hitting, kicking and cutting 69-year-old Richard Lockskin of Taylors; seizing Lockskin and forcing him into the house at 406 West Main St. and then taking Lockskin's wallet and cell phone.

Harris was arrested earlier in the day on Friday. Beacham was booked into the Union County Jail around 6:30 p.m.

Chief Sam White said investigators with the public safety department worked together to solve the crime. They talked with neighbors in the West Main Street area and reviewed a video surveillance tape from Li'L Cricket nearby which showed Harris and Beacham and the clothes they were wearing.

Lockskin told Sgt. David Brewington he had been in the back yard of the house using a weed eater when two men approached him, forced him inside the house and hit him in the head and body. He fell down and they kicked him in the body. They pulled his clothes and boots off of him and tied something around his neck. They took his wallet, which contained around $25 to $30, his credit cards and cell phone.

Capt. Freddie Gault, Lt. Charles Henderson and Investigator Mickey Parker came to the scene and Parker and his police dog, Prado, attempted to track the suspects.

Gault and Henderson later went to the emergency room at Wallace Thomson Hospital and talked with Lockskin, who had fractures to his face and ribs. He said he was working in the yard around 9 a.m. and two black men stopped and asked if he wanted to pay them to help. He told them he didn't need any help.

Around 30 minutes later, he moved toward the back of the house. The same two men approached him. One had a razor-type knife in his hand. They forced him into a bathroom where they beat him and tied him up.

The witness who saw the men flee said one had on a striped shirt and the other was taking off a dark colored jacket. Parker found the shirt, the jacket and a white T-shirt in a water drain.