In February, our news media reported exclusively that the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) had initiated a criminal investigation into the captain of the Greenville County sheriff’s office, long serving. Darius Hall. That same month, we presented another exclusive report indicating that this investigation had expanded to include “allegations against several police officers”. In the following month, we reported that the survey had “significant fruit”, according to our sources.
At the heart of the original investigation were the allegations about “parallel jobs” made by Greenville County deputies – and specifically rumors of “discrepancies” in official time cards sent to this government agency.
SLED was looking at “many years” of records related to these alleged discrepancies – as well as reports that the Greenville Sheriff’s Professional Standards Office (OPS) had wrongly approved questionable disbursements based on fraudulently submitted time cards. .
It is important to repeat that this means of communication does not envy police officers who choose to supplement their income with the private sector … especially during these challenging times.
“Ordinary policemen and sheriff’s delegates are not paid almost as much as they should be given the vital public safety responsibilities assigned to them – and the danger they often face in fulfilling those responsibilities, ”we noted in our previous coverage. “Consequently, they must be able to earn additional income in the private sector, as they are able to do so – although we have consistently argued that these job opportunities should not involve the use of taxpayer-provided equipment or other resources. “
And again… “secondary jobs” should never coincide with service hours.
At the time of writing, we have no update on the SLED inquiry in Hall and the other Greenville deputies allegedly involved in the “scorecard scandal”. According to the SLED spokesman Tommy Crosby, the “investigation remains open”.
We know that Hall was relegated from captain to lieutenant as a result of an internal investigation by the sheriff’s office – but he remains active pending the SLED investigation.
Still active? Marcus Davenport – deputy chief of the newly elected Greenville County sheriff Hobart Lewis.
Davenport is involved in the time card scandal? It is not clear … but our media has confirmed that it is the focus of a separate SLED investigation involving an unrelated claim. According to our sources, Davenport is being investigated after it was alleged that he and an accomplice “embezzled more than $ 100,000 from a bank” where the woman worked.
The SLED was referred to the case directly from the bank, we are informed, and we have received reports that the inquiry “can be referred to the feds” – probably the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) regional branch.
Crosby would only confirm that the SLED investigation in Davenport was “in progress”. In addition, he declined to comment on the progress of the investigation.
Another source informed us that the amount allegedly diverted totaled $ 112,000 – and that the money lost was discovered during an “unannounced audit” before the bank’s pending sale to another financial institution.
Davenport, readers will remember, was a central figure in the investigation of the former Greenville sheriff Will Lewis – who was removed from office and sentenced to one year in prison last October, after a jury found him guilty of misconduct in the office. Lewis was released three weeks later on bail.
Davenport also served as Lewis’s deputy chief – and traveled with the sheriff to Charlotte, NC in March 2017, on an infamous “budget meeting” trip. It was during this taxpayer-funded journey that Lewis was accused of sexually assaulting his former assistant, Savannah Nabors.
A civil case related to these allegations was resolved in October 2018 – and Lewis was never criminally charged in connection with the sexual assault allegations.
Lewis’s sex / corruption scandal – most of which unfolded exclusively on our pages – began in August 2017, when this media first reported on the seismic claims made against him by Nabors.
Stay tuned … this news medium will update our readers on any additional information we may obtain about the Davenport investigation. Obviously, the deputy chief has not been formally charged with any criminal offense so far – and if he is so accused, he would be found not guilty of any charges until he was found guilty by our criminal justice system.
-FITSNews
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Flag: Greenville County Sheriff’s Office