LAKE CITY, S.C. (WBTW) — A Lake City man was arrested Saturday after police said he assaulted and robbed a man inside a hotel room Friday.
Police said they were dispatched to the Security Inn Hotel on Sumter Street in Lake City Friday after getting a call from a guest who said they heard fighting in the room next door. While the investigator was on scene, dispatch received a call from the man in the room next door who said two men beat him up and took his money.
The investigator went to his room and saw a “large amount of blood on the outside of the doorway,” police said. The victim was laying on the floor inside the room with blood all over his face from a large gash on his head, his right finger appeared to be broken, and he had severe bruising on his upper body, police said.
The victim told police he knew one of the suspects, Kevin Earl Banks Jr., 31, of Lake City, and that he let him stay with him in the hotel room because he had nowhere else to stay and it was raining outside.
The victim said Banks left the room early the next morning, and Banks later knocked on the door with a second man who the victim did not know, according to police. The victim said both men sat down on the couch in the room and began whispering to each other, when one suspect began punching him to try and take $3,700 out of his hand.
According to police, the victim said he fought back and wouldn’t let go of the money, when Banks also began beating him up, hitting the victim with a metal lamp. The second suspect grabbed the victim’s finger and broke it and took the money before leaving the room with Banks.
Tiwan Chantel Graham, 40, is wanted in connection with this incident, according to the police report.
Banks is charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, robbery, and criminal conspiracy. He was taken to the Florence County Detention Center and is held on $15,000 surety bond.