ADAMS RUN — Following an hourslong standoff, authorities captured a man accused of kidnapping and raping a College of Charleston student in the early hours of Feb. 4 after she left a high-profile nightclub in downtown Charleston, officials said.
Andrew Robert Mettal, 27, was taken into custody by Charleston County sheriff's deputies and members of the U.S. Marshals Service the evening of Feb. 9 on the 5200 block of Mauss Hill Road, according to sheriff's office spokeswoman Lexi Douglas.
He is charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct and kidnapping. Court documents were not immediately available. It is unclear when he will have a bond hearing.
Sheriff’s office SWAT team armored vehicles and black SUVs closed in on the location near Hollywood at 2 p.m., blocking off a section of the winding rural back road off Savannah Highway. Mettal barricaded himself for five hours inside a residence, the sheriff's office said.
The arrest was the upshot of a multi-agency sting operation that extended from King Street in the heart of downtown Charleston to the western edge of unincorporated Charleston County.
Authorities first received a report at 1:50 a.m. Feb. 4 that a 20-year-old woman was abducted leaving Republic Garden & Lounge, located at 462 King St., where she had been partying with other college friends, according to an incident report written by the Charleston Police Department. Her roommate and boyfriend told police she was highly intoxicated.
The upscale nightclub is the subject of a popular reality show on cable television, "Southern Hospitality" on Bravo, and attracts a crowd.
Andrew Robert Mettal
Sometime after the young woman left the club around midnight without her friends, she was taken by a man in a vehicle against her will to Hollywood, reports indicated. The rural town at the western edge of Charleston County is more than 20 miles from the Charleston peninsula along Savannah Highway. The woman was reportedly sexually assaulted before she was able to get to safety and find help.
A sheriff's office incident report confirmed a deputy responded around 2:30 a.m. to a wooded area in Hollywood to a report of a woman who was raped. The Charleston police report states she was escorted to Medical University Hospital for a rape exam.
The college student was one of scores of young women who throng King Street from Thursday through Saturday nights, enjoying numerous bars and clubs that line the downtown corridor, which is partially closed to vehicles on popular nights for going out and features a heavy police presence. With its location just blocks from the College of Charleston's campus, King Street attracts many students, including those under the legal drinking age of 21.
The victim and her friends the night of Feb. 3 were guests at a VIP table at Republic, according to the police incident report. Republic is one of several upscale destinations along King Street owned by Lamar Bonaparte's Republic Development and Management Group. The tony nightclub offers private tables where guests can run a tab into the thousands of dollars on bottle service. Its young, attractive staff star in the "Southern Hospitality" show.
People walk on King Street in Charleston on Feb. 9, 2024. A 20-year-old College of Charleston student was reportedly abducted and raped in the early hours of Feb. 4 after leaving a high-profile nightclub in the heart of downtown Charleston.
Charleston attorney Mark Peper, who represents Bonaparte's hospitality group, wrote in a statement that all of its restaurants abide by the law.
"As part of Republic DMG's comprehensive risk prevention policy, all patrons are required to produce a valid ID prior to entering our venues," Peper said. "Further, anytime we’re asked to assist law enforcement, we routinely do so in a timely and transparent manner."
The young woman's boyfriend called authorities around 1:50 a.m. to report that his girlfriend left the nightclub without her friends after midnight and called him from King Street asking him to pick her up, dispatch records show. The boyfriend was at the time located in Colleton County, he said.
The woman said she was with a man who said they were going to Folly Beach. After speaking on the phone, she communicated to her boyfriend that she was inside a vehicle with a man who would not let her out and that she was scared, according to the incident report.
Her boyfriend tracked her phone's location, the report states, which showed she was moving in a vehicle along Savannah Highway. He continued tracking her until "the location went dark" at 1:02 a.m.
The roommate told police that she last saw the C of C student at their VIP table at Republic and that her friend was highly intoxicated. The roommate advised that her friend went to the bathroom after midnight and did not return. The roommate texted her to check in and received a reply that she was all right. The roommate also checked her friend's phone location and saw she was moving along Savannah Highway and was not with her boyfriend, the report states.
Authorities learned around 2:30 a.m. that a woman matching the victim's description was located in Hollywood and reported being the victim of a sexual assault.
The sheriff's office advised Charleston police officers that the young woman had left Republic willingly with a male subject, according to an incident report. City police indicated in their report that they believed the alleged crimes occurred outside of city limits. Officers still went to the nightclub to speak with staff and review video surveillance.
