3 South Carolina deputies charged with making fake calls about finding dead bodies while on duty
Three South Carolina sheriff’s deputies have been charged with misconduct after they allegedly reported five “hoax emergencies” about finding a dead body while on duty, officials announced Tuesday.
Chesterfield County Sheriff Cambo Streater said he learned about “possible misconduct by three of our deputies” last week.
“Based on the nature of the allegations, I requested the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) to investigate. SLED has begun their inquiry and the Chesterfield County Sheriff’s Office is cooperating fully,” he said in a statement on Facebook.
The three officers — First Stg. Justin Tyler Reichard, 28; Sgt. Darien Myles Roseau, 25; and Deputy Killian Daniel Loflin, 26 — were charged Monday with misconduct in office, criminal conspiracy and aggravated breach of peace, SLED announced Tuesday.
An arrest warrant released by SLED stated that the three officers, while on duty on Feb. 4, reported "five hoax emergencies" in the Cheraw, Chesterfield, McBee and Pageland municipalities.
The false calls were made to convenience stores or local municipal law enforcement agencies and notified whoever picked up about the "location of a 'dead body' within the municipalities," the warrant said.
The hoax calls triggered emergency responses from local law enforcement agencies.
The warrant said the charges were based on interviews with the three officers and were corroborated by " information obtained during the SLED investigation."
It's not clear what motivated the officers to make the fake calls.
The three were booked at the Chesterfield County detention center Monday and released on $30,000 bonds.
The officers are on leave from the sheriff's office pending the outcome of the investigation, local ABC affiliate WPDE of Florence reported. It’s not immediately clear if they have retained attorneys.
The sheriff’s office has more than 50 sworn deputies who serve the county’s over 40,000 residents, according to its website.
