Staff Writer

A Whitmire man being held in the Union County Jail on a murder charge is accused of breaking the law while behind bars.

Patrick Troy Rice, 25, of 271 Clark St., was placed on lock down in the jail after garnering a malicious damage to property charge on Wednesday.

A report said Jail Officer Latasha Smith saw Rice tearing the stuffing out of his mattress.

Officer Ray Valles and Officer Kevin Vinson went into the cell and found Rice's mattress torn to shreds and covered with a sheet.

Valles removed the mat from the cell and issued Rice a replacement mat.

Rice told Valles he is a “soldier” and didn't need a mat.

Rice is charged with murder, armed robbery, two counts of kidnapping and burglary in the Aug. 18 shooting of Kelvin Davis. Davis, 19, was shot to death in the invasion of his Woodberry Drive home.

A murder warrant in Davis' killing also has been issued for Derrick “Black Jesus” Ruff, 27, of 146 Grant Acres Way, Prosperity. Union County Sheriff Howard Wells said officers also want to talk with other persons of interest in the case.

Burglary reported

Two men said they were the victims of robbers early Friday morning.

A report said Sgt. Russell Vinson was called to 331 Osborne St. shortly after 12 a.m. after a prowler was reported.

Robbie Shetley, 45, told Vinson that a white man and a black man came into the house with guns and demanded he give them “everything he had.” He said he and the white man began fighting over his cell phone and it broke in half.

Brandon Mobley, 18, who also was at the house, said both suspects took a knife and a pack of cigarettes from him. He said he followed the men out of the house and told them to give back his cigarettes. He said the white man turned around and shot into the ground where he was standing. Mobley said he ran and the suspects fled.

Mobley gave Vinson a 9 mm shell casing that he found on the ground.

A 15-year-old boy who was at the residence said he gave the robbers nothing.

An investigation is continuing.

Arrested

Joe Thomas Stepp Jr., 50, of 229 Fairbanks St., Jonesville, was charged Thursday by the sheriff's office with two counts of disposing of property under lien.

In September, Cpl. Scott Ruby met with a representative from First Franklin Financial who said Stepp had failed to repay a loan on which a golf cart was used as collateral. Ruby went with the woman to Stepp's residence and could not find the golf cart. Further investigation revealed that Stepp had pawned the golf cart at Union Pawn and Gun after receiving the loan.

Ruby also learned that First Piedmont Federal also had loaned Stepp money using the same golf cart as collateral.

The report said Lt. Al Black assisted in the investigation.