Lexington County, SC (WLTX) - Lexington County deputies have arrested three people they say tried to intimidate a witness from testifying in a criminal trial.
Officers took the following suspects into custody: 42-year-old Robert Fletcher Herbert, 19-year-old Deandre Ball, and 39-year-old Lashanda Elaine Ball.
According to deputies, Lashanda is Herbert's live-in girlfriend, and Deandre is her son.
Officers say the three wanted to stop a 16-year-old boy from testifying against Herbert in an armed robbery trial. Herbert is accused of using a stolen pickup truck to break open a gun shop on Emanuel Church Road near West Columbia last March. Deputies say he took eight guns from the store.
According to officers, on July 12 Herbert and Deandre Ball used a Molotov cocktail to set fire to a truck outside the 16-year-old witness's home.
Arrest warrants also claim that Herbert, Deandra Ball and Lashanda Ball previously threatened to physically harm the boy and retaliate against him for providing information to detectives.