Dollar General manager faked Charleston store robbery

A Dollar General manager in Charleston was arrested after police said she staged an armed robbery at her own store to get bail money for an acquaintance. (charleston-sc.gov) Charleston police said officers were called shortly after 9 a.m. on April 13, 2026, to the Dollar General at 1096 Clements Ferry Road for a reported armed robbery. The manager told officers a man entered the store, kept a hand under his shirt as if he had a gun, and demanded cash. (charleston-sc.gov) Detectives said they found inconsistencies in that account during the investigation and concluded the robbery had been staged. Police identified the manager as Jeromainya Keyanni Pinckney, 25, of North Charleston. (charleston-sc.gov) Pinckney was charged with breach of trust with fraudulent intent involving $2,000 to $10,000, conspiracy, and filing a false police report, according to the Charleston Police Department. Local television outlets reported the alleged plan was meant to raise money to bail an acquaintance out of jail. (charleston-sc.gov) (counton2.com) The case turned a reported armed holdup into a fraud investigation within two days. Police announced the arrest on April 15, 2026, and said the case remained active. (charleston-sc.gov) False robbery reports can redirect officers and emergency resources that would otherwise go to real violent-crime calls. In this case, Charleston police said the initial report described a gun threat at a retail store during morning business hours. (charleston-sc.gov) The store sits on Clements Ferry Road, a fast-growing corridor on Charleston’s northeast side where police and emergency crews regularly respond to retail and traffic calls. The allegation also lands as Dollar General stores across South Carolina remain frequent sites of actual robbery investigations, making false reports harder to sort from real ones in the first minutes after a 911 call. (charleston-sc.gov) (counton2.com) Police asked anyone with information to contact the department’s on-duty Central Detective or submit a tip through the city’s anonymous system. For now, the case that began as a reported stickup is being handled as an alleged inside job. (charleston-sc.gov)