Preston Morse (Source: Solicitor's Office for the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit)BLUFFTON, SC (WTOC) -
A Bluffton man was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Monday
for burglary, cashing stolen checks and resisting arrest.
Just before jury selection for his trial was to begin,
Preston Morse, 30, pleaded guilty to first-degree burglary, two counts of
forgery and two counts of resisting arrest, according to the Solicitor's Office
for the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit. There was no negotiated plea deal.
On Sept. 17, Morse broken into a home on Buck Island Road
and stole a rifle. Morse's girlfriend is accused of luring that resident Savannah.
On Oct. 12, Morse cashed a check stolen from a Bluffton
family at Region's Bank on Hilton Head Island. He was in the process of trying
to cash a check on Nov. 9 that had been stolen from his former employer at the
Bank of America in Bluffton, when bank employees called police. As he was being
arrested, Morse assaulted two Bluffton police officers, breaking one officer's
finger. He was subdued with a Taser.
Investigators received information that Morse was involved
in the burglary after he was in custody on the forgery and resisting arrest
charges. He confessed to the burglary and said he was addicted to prescription
pills, according to Solicitor's Office for the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit.
Morse has prior convictions on charges of three counts of
criminal domestic violence and one count each of aggravated assault, failure to
stop for blue lights, fleeing to evade arrest and petit larceny.
The case against his girlfriend is pending.
By law, Morse must serve at least 85 percent of his sentence
before being eligible for release.
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