SLED chief fires back at congressman’s scathing letter about Federico killing
As the fate of Logan Federico’s alleged killer — Alexander Dickey — continues to stir conversation in national and state politics, South Carolina Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel has responded to Congressman Ralph Norman, after the legislator suggested SLED failed to accurately maintain Dickey’s criminal record.
In a scathing letter dated Oct. 9, Norman challenged Keel to explain why some of Dickey’s former crimes were missing from his criminal record, as maintaining rap sheets is a SLED function. The congressman further insinuated that the state’s top law enforcement agency was responsible for Dickey having the opportunity to kill Federico while burglarizing a Columbia home in May.
“An incomplete rap sheet is not a clerical error; it is a public safety failure with deadly consequences,” Norman said in the letter. “Logan Federico is dead because a violent repeat offender’s record was full of holes.”
In a letter Friday, Keel shot back and said while his agency is charged with maintaining criminal records, to do so accurately requires local law enforcement agents to promptly submit a defendant’s fingerprints to the agency each time they’re charged with a new crime, even if they’re already incarcerated, which did not happen in Dickey’s case.
Moreover, Keel said he refused to engage in a game of politics in the wake of Federico’s death.
“What I will not do is stand by while politicians play politics where a young, innocent girl was tragically killed,” Keel wrote. “I will not allow the integrity of SLED and our hardworking employees to be unduly tarnished in exchange for political talking points.”
Dickey had more than three dozen prior arrests, including 25 felony charges, but still was free when he killed Federico.
At issue in Norman’s letter were charges filed against Dickey in 2014 that were never attached to his criminal record.
Specifically, following Dicky’s arrest for grand larceny on Aug. 14, 2014, he was charged, while still incarcerated at the Lexington County Detention Center, with seven additional counts of burglary and larceny, none of which were ever attached to his rap sheet.
In acknowledging this error, Keel pointed to the detention center.
“For criminal charges to attach to a criminal history when a subject is served with additional charges while already incarcerated, the subject MUST be reprinted on the new charges and the fingerprints sent to SLED,” Keel wrote. “This is absolutely known by every detention center and prison.”
The Lexington County Sheriff’s Department, which operates the county’s detention center, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Current Lexington Sheriff Jay Koon assumed the post in 2015, after the alleged error would have taken place.
Keel added in the letter that he previously told Norman that in August 2024, SLED provided a training video on fingerprinting procedures to the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy to distribute to the law enforcement community. “The training was assigned to 16,878 individuals, of which 15,701 viewed it,” Keel said.
In response to Norman appearing to blame SLED for the “holes” in Dickey’s criminal record, Keel said the criminal justice system as a whole needs to addressed.
“Alexander Dickey, a career criminal, consistently received little punishment for his long list of felonies in Lexington County,” Keel wrote. “His incomplete criminal history at the time Logan Federico was tragically murdered is a direct result of a systemic problem that still exists today.”
The back and forth between Keel and Norman isn’t the only tension to arise around the killing of Federico. South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson sent a letter urging Fifth Circuit Solicitor Byron Gibson to seek the death penalty against Dickey.
Gipson held firm that he wouldn’t make such a determination before reviewing all the evidence, and Wilson’s office, faced with pushback from lawyers in the state who saw the letter as a demand that overstepped his authority, said they were only seeking to find out whether Gipson’s office would consider the death penalty.
This story was originally published October 11, 2025 at 11:36 AM with the headline "SLED chief fires back at congressman’s scathing letter about Federico killing."
