A family law attorney in Lexington county, South Carolina was arrested on Sunday and charged with burglary and multiple weapons violations in the aftermath of an incident that allegedly took place following a neighborhood poker game.
Jim O’Connor – who runs a successful practice in Lexington, S.C. – is facing charges of first degree burglary, discharging a firearm into a dwelling, possession of a weapon during a violent crime and pointing and presenting a firearm at a person.
According to an incident report (.pdf) from the Lexington county sheriff’s department, O’Connor was confronted by two men who were participating in the poker game after he allegedly departed from the table “with a poker set and a wallet” that did not belong to him.
The two men – Joshua Fogelman and Evan Phillips – told officers O’Connor became “angry” during the confrontation over the missing wallet. After denying that he took the wallet, O’Connor “started to threaten them that he would go back into his residence to grab his gun,” according to the incident report.
After running back into his house, O’Connor allegedly emerged with a weapon and fired “one round up in the air,” per the report. After that, he is accused of pointing the weapon “directly at (Fogelman)” and firing a shot “directly at him.”
Evidence collected at the scene included one spent .40 caliber shell casing.
Fogelman and Phillips provided statements to deputies concerning the incident. So did Paxton Stone, a neighbor of O’Connor’s who reportedly hosted the poker game in her home at 601 Tayser Court in Lexington, S.C.
Sheriff’s deputies were summoned to this address when O’Connor allegedly “came to the door of (Stone’s) residence and “started making loud noises and banging on the door and being very loud and boisterous,” according to the report.
The incident in question is alleged to have taken place in the early morning hours of Sunday, April 19, 2020. O’Connor was taken into custody by Lexington deputies and booked at the county detention center. After processing and arraignment, he was released after posting $50,000 bond, court records show.
O’Connor’s website biography describes himself as a veteran of the U.S. Air Force who participated in Operation Desert Shield/ Storm. He is a graduate of the University of South Carolina law school who did his undergraduate studies at the University of North Carolina Charlotte.
Stay tuned … we look forward to providing our readers with updates on this case as they become available.
EXTRA: INCIDENT REPORT
-FITSNews
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