Car Dealership Destroyed in Early Morning Fire |Anderson, SC

53-year-old Charles Chambers

Anderson, SC| Just before 5 a.m. Centerville and Homeland Park Fire Departments and Medshore Ambulance Service were dispatched to the 1400 Block of Pearman Dairy Road for a commercial structure fire. A Deputy from the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office called in the initial fire. When crews got on the scene, the building was fully involved. The Sheriff’s Office quickly put up crime scene tape around the entire property. When upstatenewstoday.com questioned the tape, a deputy stated that several cars were missing from the dealership. As firefighters were extinguishing the fire, deputies were seen leaving and headed toward GraceView Church off Charley Drive. Multiple vehicles were seen at the church without license plates. An Anderson County tow truck was seen loading the cars from the church parking lot. Upstatenewstoday.com witnessed one of the cars being started. It appears the keys were left in the vehicles after they were taken from the carlot.

The Anderson County Sheriff’s Office released a statement on their Facebook page.

A man breaks into a car dealership, scattering stolen cars across the county and leaving a business burnt to the ground.

53-year-old Charles Chambers is facing numerous charges after breaking into “Deals on Wheels” on Pearman Diary Road and single handedly stealing at least 9 cars from the lot. Chambers managed to steal the vehicles, concealing some and leaving others parked out in the open, including in a church parking lot off of Highway 28 Bypass in Anderson.

A large response surrounded the car dealership after a shift supervisor noticed an enormous amount of smoke coming from the business early Wednesday morning. Once the fire was extinguished, detectives managed to identify a person of interest and video surveillance confirmed his involvement.

Deputies are still investigating a motive as to why this Spartanburg County man made his way to Anderson to commit this crime. Arson investigators from Anderson County Fire are looking into how the fire was started and meantime, detectives charge Chambers with Burglary Second Degree, Possession of Burglary Tools, Malicious Injury, Breaking into a Motor Vehicle and 9 Counts of Grand Larceny.
Chambers has additionally been charged with Arson 2nd. Judge Ronald L. Gambrell denied Chambers bond.

Stay with Upstatenewstoday.com as this story develops.