Homeless man turns night in jail into life of service after run-in with deputy and Marine recruiter

He was 18 years old, stateless and surviving successful the woods erstwhile a South Carolina lawman arrested Brian Gilbert for stealing nutrient from a supermarket deli. 

Gilbert said helium didn't person a absorption successful life, missing much schoolhouse than helium attended and sleeping successful a structure down a buying halfway successful the Midlands region.

A nighttime successful jailhouse yet turned his beingness around. 

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U.S. Marine Corps Pvt. Brian Gilbert, a pupil from Marine Corps Engineer School, and a autochthonal of Gilbert, S.C., poses for a representation astatine Camp Lejeune, N.C., Aug. 15, 2024. Gilbert enlisted successful the Marine Corps successful March 2024 and is grooming to go a utilities systems technician.  (U.S. Marine Corps photograph by Lance Cpl. Zachary Candiani)

Lexington County Deputy John Sanders booked Gilbert into jailhouse but couldn't fto the brushwood extremity there.

"His biggest request was that helium was struggling to get immoderate food, and helium didn’t person a occupation to bring successful immoderate income," Sanders recalled aboriginal successful a video shared by the sheriff's bureau Friday to grant each 3 men heading into Veterans Day weekend.

He reached retired to the section Marine Corps recruiter, Sgt. Brent Latham, and asked what helium could do.

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Lexington County Sheriff's Deputy John Sanders recalled his brushwood with Brian Gilbert, a stateless teen helium arrested for stealing nutrient from a supermarket deli. After conferring with the section Marine recruiter, helium helped Gilbert crook his beingness around. (Lexington County Sheriff's Office)

"Deputy Sanders gave maine a call. ‘Hey man, there’s a kid who’s successful a atrocious situation. I privation to cognize if you tin assistance him,’" Sgt. Latham said. "I had a statement of what this young antheral seemingly looked like. I rolled the model down and said, ‘Hey, are you Brian?’ He said, ‘Yes, sir,’ and I told him to get in."

"He brought up the Marines," Gilbert said. "And I was like, ‘Let’s conscionable spell for it.’ I met with the recruiter … and signed the papers. I mean, this is mode amended disconnected than I thought I would be."

Sanders, a subordinate of the U.S. Army Reserve, said the solution was a no-brainer.

Deputy John Sanders shakes Pvt. Brian Gilbert's manus astatine his graduation from footwear campy successful May 2024. (Courtesy of Lexington County Sheriff's Office)

"From my acquisition with the military, you're fed. You get a spot to sleep. And you get paid for it," helium said.

Gilbert completed basal grooming astatine Parris Island and graduated successful May, and some Sanders and Latham were determination to cheer him on.

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U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Brent Latham, pictured, met with Gilbert astatine a Starbucks aft his arrest. Then the teen enlisted. (Lexington County Sheriff's Office)

Now stationed astatine Camp Lejeune, helium says helium is inactive successful regular interaction with Deputy Sanders.

"I speech to him each the time," Gilbert said. "He’s a large idiosyncratic to spell to. I tin speech to him astir anything, and he’s ever determination to conscionable listen."

U.S. Marine Corps Pvt. Brian Gilbert, a pupil from Marine Corps Engineer School, and a autochthonal of Gilbert, S.C., repairs a generator astatine Camp Lejeune, N.C., Aug. 15, 2024. (U.S. Marine Corps photograph by Lance Cpl. Zachary Candiani)

The sheriff's bureau is calling Gilbert's lawsuit a "beautiful occurrence story" that shows however authorities tin marque a affirmative quality successful a young person's life.

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"It took 1 telephone telephone from a lawman to a Marine Corps recruiter to get idiosyncratic from a unspeakable concern successful the woods to a afloat vocation and a salary," Latham said. "One telephone telephone tin perfectly marque a difference."