Cops investigating Beaufort County council member bringing ‘contraband’ into jail
The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a potential contraband incident involving an elected official from the county’s council.
The council member brought a cell phone into the Beaufort County Detention Center and took a photo with an inmate inside a jail cell, according to the county’s top law enforcement officer, Sheriff P.J. Tanner, who described the possible crime as “serious.”
In South Carolina, bringing contraband into a county jail is a felony punishable by a fine or up to ten years in prison. The South Carolina Department of Corrections specifies that cell phones, other than those with specific exceptions, are considered contraband.
Tanner could not confirm the name of the inmate or the elected official who took the photo to “protect the integrity of the investigation.” A public incident report, filed with law enforcement by Assistant County Administrator of Public Safety John Robinson, does not name the individuals involved.
Law enforcement was made aware of the situation when two council members, Chair Alice Howard and Vice Chair Tab Tabernik, brought forward concerns that the photo, described by the sheriff as a “selfie” from the jail cell of an elected official and a person being housed at the jail, was being circulated, Tanner said.
When reached by phone Thursday evening, neither Tabernik nor Howard would confirm who the elected official was, citing the ongoing investigation, but they were aligned on the fact they had a “duty to report” the incident to law enforcement.
The photo was taken on August 20, and the sheriff’s department opened their investigation the following week, Tanner said. The department has reviewed video and phone calls made by the inmate and has interviewed several jail staff members.
The sheriff’s department is working alongside the South Carolina Department of Corrections to review the case.
While specific details remained unclear, Tanner said that in looking into the original incident, several other things “popped up” that required the state department’s guidance on jail regulations. The state’s department has an interest in the incident, since “there appears to be a good many policy violations” not just at the county level, but possibly at the state level, Tanner said.
Their goal is to “peel the onion” to understand not just the possible policy breach, but how it occurred, who was responsible and what the potential criminal implications might be.
A clearer answer to these questions will likely come about by the end of next week, Tanner said.
The department plans to conduct several more interviews in the coming days and expects to have a full review with 14th Circuit Solicitor, Duffie Stone, SCDC investigators and general counsel with the sheriff’s department once they have all necessary information.
