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, NBC News reports.
“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 sheriff has suspended all three deputies.
The three deputies — First Sgt. 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 motive for the calls has not been disclosed.