SUMTER, SC – A rapper turned Sumter mayoral candidate and an associate are charged after police say they staged a kidnapping and beating in order to garner publicity, sympathy and votes in the November election.
Sabrina Belcher, 29, of Cabelas Place, admitted to planning the ruse, which she recorded and posted on Facebook live, with Christopher James Eaddy, 34, of Olive Street.
Belcher, with Eaddy’s help, also attempted to discredit a fellow candidate in the recording. Belcher also had ongoing plans to smear other mayoral candidates prior to the election.
Belcher is charged with filing a false police report of a felony and conspiracy. Eaddy is charged with conspiracy. Both were booked Wednesday at the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office Detention Center.
Officers were called to the police station before 11:30 p.m. Tuesday and met with Belcher, who reported she was assaulted and kidnapped by an unknown man during an attempted robbery. She was injured and her vehicle windows were knocked out during the chain of events described by Belcher. She was taken to Prisma Health Tuomey and released.
Woman Running To Be "First Black Female Mayor" of SC Town Stages Kidnapping On Facebook In "Plot To Gain Sympathy Votes," Cops Say pic.twitter.com/Mdy0lKcUJQ
— GrantB911 (@GrantB911) August 21, 2020
During the investigation, Belcher provided a fake name of her attacker. However, officers later determined she was in contact with Eaddy whom she had worked with days prior to concoct and stage the reported incident.
“This was simply an effort to create disorder and discontent in our community for personal gain,” Chief Russell Roark said. “As a result, a valuable number of resources, including personnel, manhours of the police department as well as local medical professionals, were wasted based on false information.”
Here is Sabrina Belcher's rap video, published just in June 2020. It is titled, "Pray for Me." pic.twitter.com/MOrWXHdu2v
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) August 21, 2020
