Report: Ladson Sonic employee burglarized, flooded store

LADSON, S.C. (WCBD)- A Sonic employee is facing multiple charges after she is accused of stealing from and attempting to flood the Ladson restaurant.

According to the Goose Creek Police Department (GCPD), officers responded to the Sonic on College Park Road on Nov. 25 around 5:15 a.m. in reference to a reported break-in.

An employee told officers that when she arrived for her morning shift, she noticed the patio door was unlocked, the kitchen and office floor were covered in water, and $950 was missing from the safe, according to a GCPD report.

Surveillance video from the restaurant reportedly showed a woman — later identified as Lakeisha Shuler, 35 — enter the store just after midnight and head directly to the safe “as if she knew exactly where it was,” the report states.

According to the report, Shuler then allegedly lit several pieces of paper on fire in the office, grabbed a hose from the kitchen and sprayed down the entire office, then turned on the sink faucet and “let it run” before exiting the store. The store was flooded resulting in approximately $300,000 worth of damage.

The report further states Shuler was the last one to lock up the restaurant on Nov. 23 before the Thanksgiving holiday and surveillance video showed her “make the motions of locking the door.”

Shuler turned herself in to the Goose Creek Police Department on Dec. 8. She was arrested and charged with one count of second-degree burglary and one count of second-degree arson.

Berkeley County jail records indicate that she has been released on bond.