Charleston, South Carolina – A woman charged with breaking into a West Ashley home and burning the owner’s things pleaded guilty on Wednesday but walked out of court free.
Charleston Judge Debra McCaslin accepted a negotiated plea deal that resulted in Evelyn Pollard receiving a five-year sentence suspended for 27 months. McCaslin indicated that she could not intervene in the assistant solicitor and public defenders’ judgment because it was part of a negotiated plea arrangement for probation.
Pollard, along with co-defendants Christopher “Nate” Marcum and Daniel Byrd, was accused on January 7, 2025, with breaking and entering a residence on Dogwood Road and destroying the residents’ personal goods.
Pollard will spend the first nine months in a residential treatment facility, pay nearly $3,500 in restitution, and get substance abuse counseling. The prosecution announced that it had lost contact with one of the victims, and the charge against that individual would be withdrawn.
Judge McCaslin repeatedly informed Pollard that she was first hesitant to even entertain the negotiated plea offer.
“I’m telling you, I don’t typically do this. “There will be zero tolerance for any violations,” McCaslin stated. “You go into somebody’s house, squat, tear up their stuff and steal all their belongings; you wouldn’t like it if somebody did it to you.” Pollard responded, “Yes, ma’am.”
In June, a judge denied Pollard’s bond, forcing her to stay in jail despite her high-risk pregnancy. In July, she was released to a treatment facility.
Their extensive coverage of Pollard and Marcum’s alleged squatting in various West Ashley homes extends back to early January.
As of yet, no legislation has been passed to explicitly criminalize the act of squatting. Even in cases of squatting, removing a renter from a private residence involves months of protracted eviction court proceedings before an individual may be forcibly removed.
The other two accused squatters, Marcum and Byrd, are expected to enter pleas before the end of the month.
