One of the suspects charged in connection with the Dec. 7 robbery and kidnapping of Margaret Gooding of Old Salkehatchie Road in Miley has been granted bond in Hampton County General Sessions Court.

Derrick L. Aiken, 29, of 315 Sixth Street, Walterboro, was granted a $50,000 surety bond on each charge Monday. Aiken is charged with both accessory before and after the fact of a felony. It is unknown at this time if Aiken has posted bond.

Two other men are also facing kidnapping and other charges in the incident.

Read more on this story in next week's Guardian.

HAMPTON -A former Hampton County Detention Center officer was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Monday after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter in his wife's death.
Charles Bradley Croom, 40, of 113 Shady Lane, Varnville at the time of his arrest, was charged with murder in the strangulation death of Heather Croom, 26, on March 15, 2009. He pleaded guilty to the lesser charge Hampton County General Sessions Court on Monday after a plea agreement between Croom's attorneys, Lee Bowers and Mary Kay Siren, and the 14th Circuit Solicitor's Office.