Chesterfield County deputies are asking the public for help finding James T. Therrell, a 63-year-old man from Patrick, who is wanted on two felony charges tied to the desecration of human remains and damage to grave property. The Sheriff's Office says it needs tips on Therrell's whereabouts as it works to track him down.
According to the Chesterfield County Sheriff's Office, Therrell is wanted on a charge of destruction, desecration, or removal of human remains under South Carolina Code 16-17-600(A), along with a second charge of theft or injury of grave property under 16-17-600(C)(1). The post does not specify which cemetery was involved, what property was damaged, or whether remains were physically unearthed. The Sheriff's Office is asking anyone with information about Therrell's whereabouts to come forward, and it stresses that individuals named in wanted posts are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.
Therrell's reported hometown of Patrick is a tiny community in southeastern Chesterfield County, covering just 0.97 square miles along U.S. Route 1, according to Wikipedia. The town's population was recorded at 266 in the 2020 Census and is estimated at 290 in 2026, and it sits roughly 12 miles south of the county seat in Chesterfield.
What South Carolina Law Says About Grave Desecration
The charges against Therrell fall under a state statute that treats interference with human remains and burial sites as a serious matter. Per Justia Law, destroying, damaging, removing, or desecrating human remains or repositories without legal authority is a felony under South Carolina Code 16-17-600(A), carrying a fine of up to $5,000, imprisonment between one and ten years, or both.
The second charge Therrell faces addresses property at a grave site rather than the remains themselves. The Chicora Foundation explains that South Carolina Code 16-17-600(C)(1) makes it a felony to steal, destroy, or injure property at a grave or repository when the loss or damage is valued at $200 or more, with penalties reaching up to a $5,000 fine, five years in prison, and 500 hours of community service. Property damage valued under $200 is instead treated as a misdemeanor in magistrates court, the foundation notes.
Enforcement of these statutes typically falls to local law enforcement. Guidelines from the South Carolina Department of Archives and History note that primary enforcement of state cemetery preservation laws and grave desecration statutes rests with local county sheriffs and municipal police departments, since South Carolina maintains several statutes governing abandoned cemeteries, private burial access, and grave protection. South Carolina agencies have applied this law before: the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office reported in April 2023 that the Williamsburg County Sheriff's Office had charged a suspect under the same desecration statute during a major criminal investigation involving discovered skeletal remains, illustrating how the charge is often brought in serious felony cases when human remains are disturbed.
The Agency Behind the Search
The Chesterfield County Sheriff's Office is led by Sheriff Cambo Streater and operates out of its headquarters in Chesterfield, South Carolina, with more than 50 sworn deputies handling patrol, criminal investigations, warrants, and detention center operations. The agency covers a county that spans more than 800 square miles in South Carolina's Pee Dee and Sandhills region along the North Carolina border, with a 2020 population of 43,273, according to Carolana.
The search for Therrell comes as the Sheriff's Office has faced its own recent scrutiny. In March 2024, SLED confirmed an active inquiry into allegations of misconduct concerning Sheriff Streater regarding case file details, per WCNC. More recently, in August 2026, Streater announced operational management changes and the removal of the detention center director following a July 2026 inmate death that triggered an independent SLED investigation, a case Hoodline covered in Mystery Death Inside Chesterfield Jail.
The wanted notice for Therrell is one of several public appeals the Sheriff's Office has issued in recent weeks, including a search late last month for a Pageland man wanted on burglary and gun charges and an alert seeking a Chesterfield County teen who went missing for a second time. Anyone with information about Therrell's whereabouts is asked to contact the Chesterfield County Sheriff's Office at 843-623-2101, or reach the agency's non-emergency line at 843-623-6838.
