Chesterfield County inmate escapes using a pencil, sheriff says

An inmate escaped from a South Carolina jail using a pencil, then was recaptured after assaulting a deputy, the Chesterfield County Sheriff’s Office said. Charles Alexander Dieterich, 30, of New York, faces additional charges following the Tuesday, Sept. 1 escape from the Chesterfield County Detention Center’s B-Work Camp.

Dieterich escaped around 4:20 p.m. He manipulated his cell door using a pencil, then went through the kitchen and out an unlocked door, according to the sheriff’s office.

He then climbed a fence topped with barbed wire, suffering several cuts in the process, the sheriff’s office said.

Detention staff discovered he was missing during routine rounds and notified dispatch.

Deputies were sent out around 4:40 p.m. and located Dieterich near the Chesterfield County Shop on Jones Road. The sheriff’s office said Dieterich assaulted a deputy while they were trying to take him back into custody.

Dieterich was taken to McLeod Health Cheraw for treatment and later returned to the detention center. He faces additional charges of unlawful escape, resisting arrest, assaulting a police officer and malicious injury to personal property, according to the sheriff’s office.

Dieterich had been in custody after pleading guilty Aug. 13 to theft and drug-related charges in South Carolina. He received a sentence of time served but remained jailed because of an active hold for charges in North Carolina, the sheriff’s office said.

Sheriff Cambo Streater said the agency is doing a full review of the escape and addressing what he called “a security vulnerability” at the facility, portions of which reportedly date to 1972.

This is not the first time an inmate has escaped from the Chesterfield County Detention Center. Escapes have been reported in 2020, 2023 and 2024. Just last month, the detention center’s director was fired amid an investigation into an inmate’s death inside the facility.