New store will be third location in the state to serve REI members and outdoor enthusiasts

SEATTLE, June 6, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Specialty outdoor retailer REI Co-op will open a new store in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina in fall 2022. The location will offer a wide assortment of apparel, gear and expertise for camping, cycling, running, fitness, hiking, paddling, climbing and more. For those who adventure on two wheels, a full-service bike shop will be staffed by certified mechanics.

"We look forward to opening a third store in South Carolina and being a resource to REI members and the broader outdoor community in and around Mount Pleasant," said Jacki Harp, REI regional director. "Our local team will also seek partnerships with outdoor nonprofits to support their efforts in protecting natural places and welcoming more people outside."

Store Facts

As the country's largest consumer co-op, anyone is welcome to shop and tap into the company's resources in support of an active lifestyle. Members who join the co-op enjoy a range of benefits, including a used gear trade-in program; discounts on experiences, rentals and shop services; a share of the co-op's annual profits based on qualifying purchases; and more.

REI actively partners with nonprofits across the nation to steward and maintain local trails and public lands to connect more people to the outdoors. Last year, the co-op invested $7.1 million in more than 450+ nonprofits across the country. Over the last five years, the co-op has invested nearly $184,000 in South Carolina-based land agencies and nonprofit partners. Recent recipients include Anne Springs Close Greenway, Conestee Foundation Inc., Friends of Harbison State Forest, Friends of Paris Mountain, Friends of Sesqui, and Palmetto Conservation Foundation.

The co-op launched the REI Cooperative Action Fund last year, a community-supported public charity designed to harness the collective power of the co-op's members and employees to build a more just, equitable and inclusive outdoor culture. Black Girls RUN! Foundation chapters in Charleston, Columbia, Florence/Myrtle Beach and Greenville/Spartanburg received grants in the first round of funding.

Join the REI team

REI expects to hire approximately 50 employees for REI Mount Pleasant. Candidates interested in joining the REI team can apply online at REI.com/jobs and a timeline for hiring is here. Candidates can set up a job alert on the co-op's career site to be notified when positions are posted. New employees will receive a wide variety of benefits, including generous product and service discounts, competitive pay and retirement contributions. REI employees also enjoy unique perks, such as two paid "Co-op Way Days" each year that allow them to enjoy their favorite outdoor activity and an additional paid day off on Black Friday to encourage all employees to #OptOutside.

About the REI Co-op

REI is a specialty outdoor retailer, headquartered near Seattle. The nation's largest consumer co-op, REI is a growing community of 21.5 million members who expect and love the best quality gear, inspiring expert classes and trips, and outstanding customer service. REI has 175 locations in 41 states and the District of Columbia. If you can't visit a store, you can shop at REI.com, REI Outlet or the REI shopping app. REI isn't just about gear. Adventurers can take the trip of a lifetime with REI's active adventure travel company that runs more than 100 itineraries across the country. In many communities where REI has a presence, professionally trained instructors share their expertise by hosting beginner-to advanced-level classes and workshops about a wide range of activities. To build on the infrastructure that makes life outside possible, REI invests millions annually in hundreds of local and national nonprofits that create access to—and steward—the outdoor places that inspire us all.

SOURCE REI Co-op

Pictures and text messages belonging to a Mount Pleasant businessman included in new court documents reveal more information about his relationship with the minor he is accused of trafficking for sex.

The vulgar messages became public as Earl Dawson Caldwell IV filed a motion June 3 to suppress that very evidence, which his defense attorneys argue was obtained through an unconstitutional search and seizure of his iPhone.

Caldwell, the former 53-year-old CEO of global auditing firm AP Recovery, was arrested in October and charged with conspiracy to traffic a minor for sex, trafficking a minor for sex and three counts of production of child pornography.

He is accused of trafficking a 17-year-old girl for sex between December 2020 and May 2021. He spent at least $45,000 to purchase sex acts from the minor and supply her with clothing, drugs and hotel rooms in the same time frame, public records show.

The minor told Caldwell she was over 18 when they first met, according to the motion to suppress, but authorities say he later learned the girl was a minor.

Homeland Security Investigations placed a notification in the databases of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement so the agency would be alerted if Caldwell left or entered the United States, the motion states.

A Border Protection officer seized Caldwell’s iPhone when he returned from a trip to the Bahamas on June 2, 2021. The officer extracted its contents and sent them to HSI agent Ken Hawsey.

Based on evidence Hawsey found during that search and seizure, which was conducted without a warrant, he obtained search warrants for Caldwell’s Facebook and iCloud accounts.

This violated Caldwell’s Fourth Amendment right that requires searches and seizures to be reasonable and usually requires a warrant, Caldwell’s defense attorneys argue in the motion to suppress. The defense is asking a federal judge to decide whether the search and seizure was constitutional, and if any of the evidence gathered can be used against Caldwell.

HSI Supervisory Agent Scott Crabb declined to comment.

Homeland Security evidence exhibits submitted as part of the motion to suppress provide a timeline of Caldwell’s interactions with the 17-year-old girl.

Four videos were recovered from Caldwell’s iCloud in December 2020. They depict Caldwell inviting the minor to his home and setting up a camera to record a “commercial sex act.” One shows the minor performing oral sex on a man, according to the exhibits.

Several images of the minor in Caldwell’s Mount Pleasant and Beaufort County homes from January and February 2021 were also recovered.

Messages obtained from electronic devices allegedly show Caldwell asked someone named “MM” in January 2021 if they knew of other girls with “similar looks, age” to the minor.

The “MM” could refer to Jessica “Michelle” Mills, a co-defendant charged in the case.

Caldwell allegedly sent a Facebook message to the victim in March 2021 stating the two had been together 23 times since meeting the previous November. He said he’d received oral sex five times and paid the minor at least $26,000 in cash.

“I know you hate doing plays. I empathize with you,” Caldwell wrote, according to the exhibit. “It is however your choice. You are 17.”

Web history from Caldwell’s phone also showed he visited commercial sex websites more than 800 times between May and June 2021.

Caldwell’s defense attorneys, Gregory Harris and Debbie Barbier, declined to comment while the government is responding to the motion to suppress.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Shoemake declined to comment on the case.

The motion to suppress was part of a flurry of motions filed this month in Caldwell’s case, which has not yet been scheduled for trial.

Defense attorneys asked a federal judge in motions filed June 6 to order prosecutors to turn over all evidence in the case, including medical records for the victim and unredacted information from her cellphone.

They are also seeking grand jury indictment records that are typically secret. Hawsey, the Homeland Security agent, testified at Caldwell’s bond hearing in October that the businessman had rearranged the girl’s clothing before he videotaped her having sex with another man at a hotel.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Carra Henderson argued at the hearing the gesture was further evidence that Caldwell sought to control the victim. But in February the prosecutor backtracked — Caldwell rearranged the clothing of a “second girl” who was in the room, not the victim in this case.

Barbier argues in her motion that similar false testimony may have been provided to the grand jury, which justified release of records from the proceedings.

Federal authorities became aware of the sex-trafficking operation in April 2021 after the victim visited a Georgia hospital for appendicitis. The minor told the hospital staff she was forced to have sex with 10 to 15 men a day.

Caldwell’s co-defendants, Mills and Cederick Riley, admitted in April they conspired to traffic the girl for sex. The federal offense carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Mills, 30, reportedly met the minor at a crack house in Beaufort or Jasper County. Riley, 34, met the minor while she was living with Mills and struck up a romantic, yet abusive, relationship with her, according to Henderson.

The government has until June 27 to respond to the motions. No hearing has been scheduled.

All three defendants remain lodged in the Charleston County jail after being denied bail.

A second game and restaurant venue is on the way to the growing town of Mount Pleasant and will serve as the flagship operation for two others planned across the Southeast.

Crush Yard will offer eight pickleball courts, shuffleboard and other activities along with backyard bites, beer and wine at the vacated site of a former gun and fishing gear merchant.

Plans call for an opening in the winter in the 38,773-square-foot space formerly occupied by Palmetto State Armory at 3365 S. Morgans Point Road in the northern part of the state’s fourth-largest municipality.

Crush Yard also will feature an outdoor space in the back with fire pits where patrons can listen to live music and play games such as cornhole and giant Jenga.

The name was selected because players often use terms such as “crushing it” for someone playing well, according to Andrew Ladden, chief marketing officer and an investor in the enterprise. “Yard” came into play because of the outdoor element planned for the site, he said.

Visitors can pre-book courts through an app, and the new venue will offer memberships, both annual and month-to-month. The more patrons play, the more they can earn freebies that include complimentary drinks, snacks and merchandise, Ladden said.

Members also can enter tournaments where they will be matched with players of similar skill levels and will have court-booking preference.

The site also will include self-serve ordering kiosks along with self-pour beer, wine and soft drinks.

The menu will include hamburgers, cheesebrugers, chips, dips, chicken dishes, house-made cotton candy and healthier options such as lettuce wraps.

“We are debating adding pizza, too,” Ladden said. “We want people to come and hang out, even if they don’t play pickleball.”

Ladden, who lives in New Jersey, has partnered with four Charleston investors and others outside the area to produce the flagship Crush Yard. Others are planned in Orlando and Nashville in 2023, with expansions into other cities in the future, according to Ladden.

The business partners plan to spend $5 million to $10 million to upfit the space with a kitchen, interior renovations that will include a balcony, a facade facelift and backside exterior improvements.

Ladden said the investors selected Mount Pleasant for the first venue because its a sought-after community in the Charleston area.

“We think it’s the right kind of audience for pickleball,” Ladden said. “It’s sweeping through suburban neighborhoods throughout the country, and Mount Pleasant is a popular suburb in the Charleston area. There are not a lot of places like this there. It seems like a really natural fit.”

Earlier this month, MIX, an “eatertainment” project that will offer food, drinks, axe-throwing, duckpin bowling and other indoor games, announced it will move into the former restaurant space where Butch & The Boar was located in Brookgreen Center off Coleman Boulevard on the town’s southern end. A November opening is targeted.

“There is a trend of dining with athletic entertainment,” Ladden said. “People want to do stuff. They want to get up and move around. They want to do someting and not sit still.”

Construction on the former gun shop has not begun. Investors are now drawing up plans to present to the town, and Ladden is hopeful the new business will open by late fall, but he realizes plans and permitting take time.

“It could be December or even January,” he said.

Palmetto State Armory moved to a former Bi-Lo supermarket store in West Ashley, where it opened earlier this year.

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCSC) - What should have been a new chapter in their lives has turned into a nightmare for some Mount Pleasant homeowners. Mold, ventilation problems and structural issues are just some of the complaints listed in lawsuits filed against the builder and HVAC contractor.

The Midtown Townhomes by Lennar are one of the newer builds in Mount Pleasant. It’s located off of Hungry Neck Boulevard and they’re listed as luxury townhomes. From the outside, many would think it’s true but neighbors say things have gone wrong.

“I started looking around, I mean opening closets, and I was just like ‘Oh my God,’” Kim Conway, who bought her townhome in 2020, says.

Conway says she was gone last summer for about six weeks. But when she came back, there was mold on every floor.

“My furniture, my bed, my mattress… everything was damp when I came home,” Conway says. “Like my sheets were wet. Everything was wet. And I lived in here for four days like this. And my furniture, these chairs… they had to come in and clean every piece of furniture. Everything. There was nothing left in this house.”

Conway says she had to move into a hotel while Lennar cleaned it up. According to documents from her attorney, it cost about $14,000.

She’s not the only one dealing with issues.

“I need to have the air conditioner work properly so that there’s not too much humidity in the house and it won’t blow constantly,” Karen Tinsley, who bought her townhome in 2021, says. “I think the unit is not the correct type of unit. I have a sink in the kitchen that’s cracked from the factory. I have a water heater that I’ve replaced because the plumber said that it was too small for my unit.”

Tinsley says she’s had problems since day one.

“My oven didn’t work properly. I have a gas stove and it was flickering so they had to go in the attic and make a bigger line for that. And I’ve had cracking of brick on the outside. There’s all kinds of wall problems upstairs. I have a bowed out floorboard and someone came in and said, ‘well we’re going to have to take out the wall because the plate and the wall isn’t attached to the sheetrock.’ So that means they’re going to have to come in and tear out the wall and fix that.

Tinsley says of the laundry list of items she has sent to Lennar to fix only about 25 percent has been done. And she’s wary if they’re actually done correctly. She says the most concerning thing to her, though, is the cracking bricks.

“I have these dreams where that my entire house is falling down from the outside and everything inside is all going to just fall down,” Tinsley says. “It’s like how scary is that? That’s what I’m stressed out about.”

All in all – neighbors just want their new homes fixed and for Lennar and the other companies to own up to the problems. That’s why they filed the lawsuits.

As of Thursday, the lawsuit against the HVAC company, Fogel Services, is pending in Charleston County. A federal court dismissed the lawsuit against Lennar for procedural reasons, but a motion for reconsideration of that dismissal is currently pending. Neither company has responded for a request for comment as of Thursday.

“I think Lennar should accept what they’ve done and they know they’ve messed up these buildings,” Conway adds. “They should fix them. They should be responsible and just fix them. And learn how to build.”

They’re also offering some advice to home buyers.

“I would say don’t rush into buying anything get an inspector,” Tinsley says. “Maybe get two inspectors. Get some advice from other people to go in and look at the history of the place. Don’t rush into a brand new construction because they’re taking shortcuts these days to sell.”

This isn’t the first lawsuit against Lennar. There are more than a dozen listed in Charleston County alone listed on the court’s website dating back more than a decade alleging similar problems.

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COLUMBIA, S.C. – Golfbreaks by PGA TOUR (Golfbreaks), a leading, worldwide golf vacation specialist, today announced plans to expand operations in Charleston County. The company’s expansion will create 32 new jobs in the next two years.

Founded in 1998 in the United Kingdom, Golfbreaks specializes in organizing golf trips throughout the United States (U.S.) and around the world. As the ‘Official Golf Vacation Partner’ of the PGA TOUR, the company offers golfers a top-class, hassle-free service by arranging tee times, accommodations, ground transportation, tournament tickets and much more.

Located at 474 Wando Park Blvd. in Mount Pleasant since 2016, Golfbreaks’ Charleston County operation serves as its North American office and was recruited through the state’s Landing Pad program. The company’s expansion will allow Golfbreaks to increase its service volume to U.S. and Canadian golfers who take trips domestically and overseas.

Individuals interested in joining the Golfbreaks team should visit the company’s careers page or email resumes to the company.

QUOTES

“With minimal travel restrictions now in place and a lot of pent-up demand, Golfbreaks is growing rapidly. If you like golf and enjoy delivering unforgettable memories to fellow travelers, then a career at Golfbreaks may be perfect for you. Our enthusiastic and vibrant team in Mount Pleasant is on a very exciting journey with our partners at the PGA TOUR.” -Golfbreaks by PGA TOUR CEO Daniel Grave

“South Carolina’s golf industry has seen significant growth in recent years, and today’s announcement by Golfbreaks shows that this momentum is not slowing down. I congratulate Golfbreaks on their expansion and look forward to their continued growth in South Carolina.” -Gov. Henry McMaster

“Golfbreaks’ expansion in Charleston County is a hole-in-one for our state’s golfing industry and the local community. A worldwide leader in their field, we look forward to many more years of a successful partnership with Golfbreaks.” -Secretary of Commerce Harry M. Lightsey III

“We are thrilled with Golfbreaks’ decision to invest further in our community and create 32 new jobs for our citizens. Charleston County is a natural fit as we have a passion for golf and more importantly, we have a desire to foster business growth.” -Charleston County Council Chairman Teddie Pryor