INMAN MAN RECEIVES 15-YEAR PRISON SENTENCE FOR VIOLENT RESIDENTIAL BURGLARY

An Inman man received a 15-year prison sentence and five years of probation today after he admitted to breaking into an elderly woman’s home, tying her up with a telephone cord and stealing her car to fund his drug addiction.

Christopher Boyd Arrowood, 22, pleaded guilty to first-degree burglary, strong-arm robbery and kidnapping. Circuit Judge Cordell Maddox issued a 20-year prison sentence that was suspended to 15 years of service and five years of probation.

Arrowood was one of the three people who approached the home of a 73-year-old Seigle Avenue resident on May 14, 2005. Arrowood knocked on the kitchen door about 6:45 p.m. and asked for a ride home so the group could tend to a sick family member. The victim went to her bedroom to get her keys. When she returned, Arrowood took her pocketbook and the keys to her 2004 gold Toyota Camry. Arrowood and an accomplice used telephone cord to tie the victim to a chair. After the crime, the group purchased some crack cocaine before driving to North Carolina, according to Principal Deputy Solicitor Barry Barnette.

Arrowood, Brandy Nicole Cantrell, 17, of Campobello, and Marty Allen McClure, 19, of Inman, were arrested in the days following the crime on multiple charges. The charges against Cantrell and McClure are still pending.