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SUMTER, S.C. (WIS) - An $80,000 chicken heist was foiled in Sumter County and a truck driver was taken into custody.

According to the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO), Christopher Thomas, 55, was supposed to deliver 41,000 pounds of chicken to two locations in Milton, Georgia, but had other plans to make cash.

”I don’t know how you get $80,000 worth of chicken out of the plant in the first place,” said an anonymous worker at Pilgrims Pride Plant.

Sumter County deputies along with the assistance from Lee County Sheriff’s Office arrested Thomas on Saturday evening.

According to the SCSO, Thomas — who is from Florence — was hired by Pilgrim’s Pride to deliver chicken and is suspected of having intentions of selling it.

WIS spoke to a worker at the plant who said this news comes as no surprise as these types of thefts keep happening.

”I’m not entirely sure how this is happening to be honest,” the worker said. “That’s a lot of chicken to be stolen out of there twice so I really have no idea how they’re even doing it and what they’re doing to stop it.”

Investigators believe Thomas sold part of the load of chicken he was transporting in various locations and was in the process of selling more when deputies pulled him over for a traffic stop.

When Thomas gave consent to deputies to search the truck, the investigator saw pallets loaded with cases of frozen chicken which was confirmed to be stolen from Pilgrim’s Pride.

Thomas was arrested with approximately seven pallets loaded with 215 cases of chicken that weighed 8,000 lbs.

It is believed Thomas sold about 33,000 lbs. of chicken.

Thomas is charged with breach of trust with fraudulent intent and is valued at $10,000 or more.

The worker gave insight into what the company could do to better manage the security of the plant.

“I guess the checkpoint to make sure on who’s coming in and out, what’s on the trucks and all of that,” the worker said. “I have no idea on how they get the trucks out there cause usually there’s these big trucks with freezers in them so I’m guessing they have one of those.”

If found guilty, Thomas can spend up to 10 years in prison.

Thomas appeared in court on Monday morning and was granted a $50,000 bond, but has yet to pay it.

In May, WIS News 10 reported on a similar incident in the same county where two men were arrested after being accused of stealing $40,000 worth of boneless chicken breast from Pilgrim’s Pride. However, investigators said the two crimes are not connected.

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Public history student Stevie Malenowski spent his summer job surrounded by boxes of documents that had not seen the light of day in decades.

Years of furniture pamphlets, corporate memos and yellowing photos tell the story of Williams Furniture Company, a major employer in Sumter, South Carolina, from the 1920s through 2004. Malenowski’s task was to sort through the collection and scan some 1,200 items for digital preservation.

He was excited to learn from the specialists at University Libraries, who taught him standards for digitization and how to create a finding guide. He was less excited, though, to learn more about lumber.

“Honestly, the last thing I wanted to do was read more about wood products,” says Malenowski. “But the great thing about history is that the more you look into things, you see these characters start to emerge.”

Malenowski came to the project after taking a graduate class with history professor Jessica Elfenbein, who has been working to create a more complete historic record of forestry in South Carolina. In researching the industry in Sumter, known as part of the “wood basket of the world,” Elfenbein learned about the Williams Furniture Company archives at Sumter County Museum.

The museum loaned the archives to USC for digitization, and the collection is now available online through the South Carolina Digital Library.

“It’s amazing to think that all this history has been largely unknown until now,” Elfenbein says. “You’d never know that the ‘Williams’ in Williams-Brice Stadium is named for this furniture company in Sumter, or how the community there rallied to bring the factory to town. It was truly a community effort, and these are stories that are very important but little-known.”

Malenowski has also gone all-in on researching Williams and stayed on into the fall semester to complete the digitization project. He’s using the archives for his graduate thesis, which examines the impact of unionization on the culture of the Williams Furniture Company and the surrounding community.

“There’s so much to unpack in just this one area,” he says. “Having a union shop with an integrated workplace at this time was practically unheard of in the South, and it’s incredible how the union played a role in changing the social fabric of the town.”

Elfenbein hopes making the archives available will bring greater awareness of the far-reaching impact of this industry for the history of Sumter, South Carolina and beyond.

Last fall, Elfenbein taught an undergraduate honors course to feature the Williams collection. Lynn Robertson, longtime director of USC’s McKissick Museum, co-taught the course and led the class in creating a traveling exhibit that will debut later this year.

“All the students are from different academic backgrounds — business, science, the arts and, of course, a few history majors,” Robertson says. “What’s so great is that they all bring their own backgrounds, so they all look at it from different points of view.”

The course showed students just how relevant history can be as the students worked together to bring this untold history to the public for the first time.

In addition to creating exhibition displays, they worked in teams to conduct the first seven oral histories, which provide context for the archive materials and a different angle on the company’s story.

“Initially, I thought this class was completely unrelated to me, but I was wrong,” says Lauren Reasoner, an honors student in the College of Information and Communication. “Not only am I getting to professionally design the exhibit, but I also learned how to conduct oral histories, which turned out to be a crucial part of my senior thesis.”

Reasoner interviewed a Sumter resident whose grandfather sustained a devastating injury while working in Williams’ lumber yard, which shed new light on the company’s worker safety records. Other students talked with descendants of past owners and managers of Williams.

These interviews are now transcribed and housed in the Department of Oral History in University Libraries. Malenowski, along with another student, will continue the interviews this spring, thanks to grants from the College of Arts and Sciences Humanities Collaborative and USC’s Center for Integrative and Experiential Learning.

While the Williams collection is extensive, he says it offers an incomplete view of the company’s story without the perspectives of those who worked on the factory floor.

“The Williams collection is insightful, but it’s got such obvious blind spots. The workers are practically invisible, and you’d think the managers were the ones out there chopping down trees and building cabinets,” Malenowski says. “But we’ve finally gotten a list of people who want to share their stories.”

View the Williams collection online, or learn more about the Sumter County Museum. The exhibit will travel to locations throughout the state later this year. A comprehensive website, including content from the traveling exhibit, will launch in April.

Eriyonna Walcott is a senior at Sumter High School. According to the Coast Guard Academy, only one South Carolinian has been accepted so far this year.

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SUMTER, S.C. — It's college acceptance season for students nationwide, and in Midlands, one high school senior has found out she's going to the Coast Guard Academy. The Sumter High School student is the first and only South Carolinian to be accepted this year so far.

"Since I was probably like five or six years old, I just wanted to go to military," 17-year-old Eriyonna Walcott said. "My uncle, he's an officer in the Coast Guard. He retired as a commander in the Coast Guard, and I've always looked up to him my whole life. So, that just really inspired me to join the Coast Guard and be an officer."

Walcott said this inspiration and her school's ROTC program helped her confirm she wanted to join the military. Initially, Walcott said she planned to enlist right after high school graduation.

"I've never been the type of person to want to go to college or anything. That didn't happen 'til last year, late summer," Walcott said. "Ms. Gadson from seventh grade up until my 11th grade year summer, she's been juggling with me trying to convince me to go to college, so you know, Gear Up has really helped me. She made sure my grades were on point, my head's on the right track and all that type of stuff."

Because of Gear Up Counselor Audrika Gadson, Walcott is now the first person from South Carolina to be admitted into the Coast Guard Academy for 2024.

"You got kids who never thought they were gonna go to college accepted and ready to go," Gadson said, smiling. "Like, that's amazing."

Gadson has been working with Walcott and the Sumter High Class of 2024 for the past six years, making a difference, said principal Anamaria Sandor.

"The support they have received from the Gear Up specialist, it made a difference because they were exposed to more college options, to FAFSA, to meetings that they have with all the students to make sure that they know how to apply to the college, what letters they need, what recommendation, who to ask for recommendation," Sandor said.

"Makes me want to cry," Gadson said. "You know, you get a relationship with kids and, you know, you see so many kids never thought they were going to go even they just did, 'My path was strictly military,' you know, being able to talk to a child, be like, 'You know, well, you know, there's other options, you can still go to college and still be in the military at the same time.' You know, just introducing them to things that they never thought was possible and didn't know that exists, it's amazing."

The Academy said that only one person in the state has been accepted so far. In 2023, the Academy said only five students from South Carolina were accepted.

"It was either the Academy or the military. So, I feel like if you're determined to do something, you can make it happen. You have to believe in yourself and do everything you can," Walcott said. "ROTC - it helped develop my leadership skills and my responsibility. There's a lot of stuff in ROTC to help you with time management, all that type of stuff."

In addition to her school's JROTC program, Walcott said she's involved in many other extracurriculars, from the color guard and drill team to wrestling, swimming, track and National Honor Society.

"Another thing that got me here is all my support system. So, you know, my parents got number one, my principal, you know, everybody; they just kept encouraging me. So I really appreciate that," Walcott said. "If you go to college, you get more benefits, higher pay, that type of stuff. It's just a lot more benefits. I will get commissioning rather than enlisting. So yeah, I was like, you know what, maybe they're right. Let's do it."

eVAC is a German magnet manufacturer. It's planning to invest half a billion dollars and create nearly 300 jobs in Sumter County.

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SUMTER, S.C. — Half a billion dollars and nearly 300 jobs are expected to come into Sumter County now that a new manufacturing facility has announced it will be coming to the area. The German magnet manufacturer’s parent company is called Vacuumschmelze, with “eVAC” as its US name.

“They need it, I need it, we all need it,” Sumter resident Jeremiah Johnson says about job opportunities.

Now that eVAC has announced its plan to build a magnet manufacturing plant, it says 300 positions are expected to come to the area.

“It's a tremendous day,” Sumter Mayor David Merchant shares about the $500 million investment. “It creates jobs, it creates investment in South Carolina, it creates investment in Sumter specifically, and it just helps show that Sumter can compete with anybody in the state as far as our workforce and what we can help generate.”

“I think as we grow with more and more job opportunities, we'll continue to get a bigger group of people and with that more talent, more opportunity and just continue to get better together,” Sumter resident Will Hancock explains.

Hancock says economic development is key to making Sumter a good place to live.

“Sumter has made a big shift in the last decade. When I was in high school, I don’t think I had much to say about Sumter,” Hancock remembers. “Now I have plenty to say about Sumter as far as bringing people in.”

It’s something small business owner Niki Lewis says is important.

“With bringing new businesses, you have new faces coming in, different ideas. So it’s really good for all the small businesses,” Lewis says. “A lot of people go outside of where they live to get better opportunities, but if we're bringing those businesses and corporations in, that's better for them to stay home, meaning more time with their family because they don't have to travel as much. And then again, the money stays within the community.”

“Businesses from all over the world are coming to South Carolina. It's our job to see that we don't drop the ball,” Gov. Henry McMaster said on stage at the announcement. “Sometimes we really don't realize how good we have it, but other people do and that’s why they’re coming here.”

McMaster and leaders from across the state gathered for the announcement, which Vacuumschmelze’s CEO Erik Eschen says was made because of the people.

“The big difference for us was really people when you sit with them and talk with them, you see they mean it. And this is a unique experience we had here in South Carolina, especially Sumter that made the change and a difference,” Eschen shares.

Eschen says the facility is expected to be open by the end of 2025.

“Construction will be starting you know, hopefully we can get some local contractors involved to be participating in that and then it'll be plenty of announcements and talking about job fairs and job creations,” Mayor Merchant explains.

“We even try to avoid any noise from the outside,” Eschen adds. “And we assume depending on the day between two or four additional trucks we will have in the area, so I hope your traffic system can digest that. So we will be a very friendly and quiet neighbor, but not only that, we want to really be engaged in this wonderful community.”

eVAC’s technology is used in electric vehicle motors and will support US defense programs, as Eschen explains.

“We can’t understate how world class this company is,” South Carolina Secretary of Commerce Harry Lightsey says. “Their technology is really cutting edge leading technology in this world and frankly you know, they are the only company that does what they do that is based in the Western Hemisphere, so it is a great honor to have them be part of South Carolina.”

Charlie Dubose has been collecting Christmas figurines and lights for almost five decades and sets up a big display every year for residents to drive by.

SUMTER, S.C. — Sumter residents are lining up in their cars to drive by a Christmas display that’s been growing for nearly five decades.

“There's just something about Christmas lights. It come from when I was a little boy, the first time I ever plugged up a set of Christmas lights. When I plugged them lights up, it made me click as the fella says. It just lit me up,” lifetime Sumterite Charlie Dubose smiles. “It just thrills me to look at them.”

It’s why Dubose and his wife Susan have been collecting figurines and lights for 47 years, placing them outside his home.

“No matter what I do here, it’s coming from my heart,” Dubose shares. “That’s where it's coming from.”

Dubose says he starts setting up in September.

His display has been growing every year, covering his 10 acres and spreading Christmas cheer to residents who drive by and to Dubose’s neighbors like Ginny Miller.

“I mean, it's funny to watch the traffic coming in and out, in and out all the time.,” Miller details. “But it's alright.”

Miller says dealing with traffic near her home during the month of December is worth it to see the joy that Dubose spreads.

“Just everybody come by and enjoy,” Miller explains. “I mean it's a beautiful setup he has.”

“Some kids that come by here, when they see this,” Dubose says. “That is gonna be the only Christmas is what they see.”

Kids and adults can see the lights every night starting Thanksgiving.

On the weekends, there’s a special visitor.

Santa Claus comes to say hello to visitors and takes letters from them.

For Dubose, two things motivate him to bring back the display every holiday season.

“Giving them joy and telling them about Christ,” Dubose says. “That's the main thing: that Jesus loves them. That's what I tell them.”

You can see those lights from 5:30 to 9 p.m. every weekday at 115 Gaddy Ct. On weekends, they stay on until 10 p.m.