Vendetta: Police say nurse vandalized tobacco stores for vengeance

CAMDEN, SC (WIS) - If you want to find a smoke in Camden, South Carolina, Cash Pawn and Jewelry has quite a selection.

But lately, James Truesdale's shop looks a lot like the competition, The Tobacco Corner, down the road. "How?" you might ask? Seems they've both got similar markings and paint jobs they didn't ask for.

Police say Pamela Wood was arrested late Monday afternoon. Surveillance video shows her ripping a cigarette sign down outside Truesdale's store on Sunday before she started painting.

Camden's Police Chief say confessed to doing it in Sumter and they think there were nearly a other dozen cases like the one at The Tobacco Corner.

"The re-occuring theme is 'kills' placed on these buildings, then there seems to be a message and the message seems to be 'these products kill,'" said the chief.

Police think Wood saw an opportunity, painting the place early on Sunday morning. They think she did not see she'd been caught on tape before and the store owner was already on the lookout.

Now, Truesdale has caught her on tape twice. Police have her in custody after someone tipped them off. It seems there was emotion involved. Wood is a nurse practitioner who has specialized in addiction.

"It sounds like she has a message, but she's going about delivering that message in the wrong way because what she's doing is a violation of the law," said the chief.

Despite the motivation, it seems a crime of passion is still a crime.

Wood is in the Kershaw County Detention Center charged with seven counts of malicious injury.

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