SC

SC Trooper Scandal Update

FEDERAL INDICTMENT THE LATEST PLOT TWIST … || By FITSNEWS || Eleven days ago, this website reported on the termination of lance corporal J.D. McGaha of the S.C. Highway Patrol.  McGaha’s termination came one day after this website submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to the S.C. Department of…

FEDERAL INDICTMENT THE LATEST PLOT TWIST …

|| By FITSNEWS || Eleven days ago, this website reported on the termination of lance corporal J.D. McGaha of the S.C. Highway Patrol.  McGaha’s termination came one day after this website submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to the S.C. Department of Public Safety – the state agency which oversees the Highway Patrol.

What did our FOIA seek?  Materials related to an alleged “evidence tampering” investigation involving a senior SCHP official in Horry County – the area where McGaha was assigned to patrol.

Our FOIA has yet to be answered, by the way.  SCDPS has informed us it has records responsive to our request – and we have indicated our willingness to pay the modest fee associated with the production of said records – but we’re still waiting on the documents.

Anyway … as we noted in our story, McGaha’s firing is reportedly the “tip of the iceberg” of a major scandal.  And this week, more information about that scandal was revealed.

According to reporter Jason M. Rodriguez of The (Myrtle Beach, S.C.) Sun News, McGaha was indicted on a federal narcotics conspiracy charge – one related to a federal “vice war” against several coastal businessmen.

McGaha’s conspiracy charge was “related to the three area businessmen and a former Myrtle Beach police officer facing multiple federal money laundering and racketeering charges,” Rodriguez reported.

Details of McGaha’s involvement with these businessmen was not revealed, although the conspiracy charge the feds indicted him on carries a minimum ten-year prison sentence – and a maximum sentence of life in prison.

This website opposes the federal war on drugs.  In fact we specifically weighed in on this particular “vice war” earlier this month.

“Last time we checked South Carolina’s Grand Strand was a popular tourism destination.  One frequented by men looking to spend their money on golf, food and … yeah, a little bit of fun on the side,” we wrote. “Should accommodating their vices be illegal?  No …”

In fact if South Carolina were to legalize drug use, prostitution and gambling, it would be a boon to the state’s coastal economy.

Of course as we have repeatedly pointed out – most notably during the as-yet-unresolved “Lexington Ring” scandal – we have a big-time problem when crooked politicians and corrupt cops decide to selectively enforce vice laws.  Or even worse, profit from their selective enforcement …

***

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28 comments

GrandTango March 31, 2015 at 12:38 pm

LMAO..You told us the state would be blown-up by THE LEXINGTON RING…so far they got a small town police chief for hoarding evidence…and ONE count of Metts helping out some poor-slob illegal who turned right on red…w/ a guilty plea for something that is NOT EVEN illegal now…

IOW: The iceberg melted…Dumb@$$…Wonder if they’ll get a jaywalking conviction this time…to improve FITS record???…LMAO…

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Enjoy March 31, 2015 at 12:46 pm

SC will continue to be a banana republic, perfect for underachieving dipshits like you.

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GrandTango March 31, 2015 at 2:06 pm

Look Harry Reed and Nevada…you Simple-minded, easily-led Dumb@$$…
You are about as CORRUPT as they come…idiot…and you pretty much get away w/ it…

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Enjoy March 31, 2015 at 3:31 pm

Are you a real, actual person? I’m having doubts.

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Buz Martin March 31, 2015 at 5:04 pm

He’re really pissy right-wing whacko bot.

Daniel Boome March 31, 2015 at 7:42 pm

The irony of it is that right wing wackos like GT act and think just like the left wing wackos they so despise.

Buz Martin March 31, 2015 at 9:27 pm

Yep. But he’ll never see it.

SynTwist April 22, 2015 at 10:38 pm

He see it, he thrives on pissing people off. Yes, he sounds really stupid, but it all aimed to at evoking an emotional response.

SynTwist April 22, 2015 at 10:37 pm

When you see him day after day saying the same thing, one does start to wonder if you are being hacked or if he if someone that mean truly exists.

Daniel Boome March 31, 2015 at 7:36 pm

Substance should always take precedence over style and delivery, but it can’t even do that in your case. Your deranged and hateful-filled rhetoric make the substance (if there is any) you try to propagate irrelevant. Your invective is no different than the racist FTP protesting animals. Your total lack of humanity and professionalism is the reason you are on 24/7 with nothing better to do.

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GrandTango March 31, 2015 at 7:57 pm

Wow…what a surprise…you’re a F*#king idiot liberal…and you hate me…That’s the first time that’s happened….LMAO…

Daniel Boome March 31, 2015 at 8:19 pm

So, if you don’t like deranged parasites who express themselves like FTP protesters then you are a”F*#king idiot liberal”? Ok , if you say so, but I’m pretty sure they are liberals who live on the Democrat plantation. That would mean you do too. Thank you for revealing who, and what, you are.

Glad I moved March 31, 2015 at 12:42 pm

The entire state is run by criminals. Not going to change in our lifetimes.

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I like it here anyway March 31, 2015 at 1:17 pm

“The more laws are written, the more criminals are produced” – Lao Tzu.

In the last 100 years especially, so many benign acts of daily living have been codified that even our masters have trouble avoiding the letter of the law, as the letter has been expanded to become a library.

Victimless crime is the norm now, with little adherence to natural law.

If anyone deserves the cruelty of suffering from the breaking of victimless “law”, then it’s especially those that are normally tasked with enforcing it.

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Soft Sigh from Hell April 1, 2015 at 6:34 pm

“The entire state is run by criminals.”

We need a name for that. For Russia they call it a “mobocracy” but that sounds more organized than the largely individual or small-clatch thefts by our political and big-shot porch-climbers (old definition) and second-story men here in SC.

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Bible Thumper March 31, 2015 at 12:43 pm

I appreciate the update. Now how about an update on South Carolina’s jobs report. You were doing them monthly, but quit three months ago.

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RogueElephant March 31, 2015 at 1:13 pm

I have always considered myself a law and order conservative, but lately I wonder if there is any law or order. Seems like everyone is in it for the money and don’t worry about right and wrong. The rich buy their justice and the rest of us take what we can get. It is getting harder and harder to tell the good guys from the bad. Things like this just emphasize it.

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Mike at the Beach March 31, 2015 at 8:28 pm

It would seem that way at times, but rest easier and know that the modern media cycle (and, of course, the interwebs) is primarily to blame for the perception here. Wicked, lazy, and stupid people infest every profession, but I would contend that LE is infested at a much lower rate that many. There are over 11,000 local, state, and federal law enforcement officers in SC, the VAST majority of whom are hard working and honest. They chose the field for all of the right reasons, and most would take a bullet to save you or your family (I have watched them do it for others). So a half dozen or so cops got indicted this year and last (many of whom were elected sheriffs), but what about the other 10,994? The straight ones simply don’t get much press. They’re just out there turning keys in the prisons, riding the highways looking for drunks, and keeping the peace for about $36,000 bucks a year. They’d make much more driving a beer truck here in the Redneck Riviera, and be a helluva lot more popular.

If McGaha did what the rumor mill says he did and took protection money, he’s a piece of shit and most of the 10,994 referenced above would love to kick his ass for tarnishing every badge in the state. It takes a boatload of attaboys to wipe out a single “oh shit.”

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Scooter March 31, 2015 at 9:46 pm

I wish that I could believe that.

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Mike at the Beach March 31, 2015 at 9:51 pm

Luckily for their mental health, most cops get that people don’t like them or the job they do. Comes with the territory- peoples’ biases are powerful things. Good beat cops are
janitors to society, armed stenographers, and itinerant problem solvers, and they just keep doing their thing public opinion notwithstanding.

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big bob March 31, 2015 at 1:17 pm

Is this the same Dean McGaha that worked in Kershaw County several years ago and was involved in a vehicular homicide while in pursuit of a vehicle ?

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Cashed Out March 31, 2015 at 1:22 pm

No the one you are thinking about cashed out about six years ago.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=36822589

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Boris May 16, 2015 at 8:18 am

No, this is the same McGaha who got in trouble driving his Dodge Charger 150 mph to Columbia because he was late for a meeting. Think they put him in a Crown Vic and demoted him, but left him free to run around as muscle for the strip club mobsters.

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Mom March 31, 2015 at 2:06 pm

Legalizing drug use includes heroin and cocaine, not only weed.

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So? March 31, 2015 at 3:29 pm

Yes, that’s what legalizing drugs means. Cannabis is not a drug.

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Victorious Secret March 31, 2015 at 5:29 pm

Indeed! I can’t wait for the all these laws to be wiped.

I, for one, can’t wait to embark on the streets whilst 20-somethings are hopped up on synthetic Molly. Or better yet, maybe the guy approaching me on the street will have just shot up on heroin. The free market will be such a wonderful and unencumbered thing.

And THC, that is definitely not a “drug.” Forget how all major dictionaries define “drug.” They’re just being silly and foolish.

Finally, I’m excited about the prospect that my tax dollars will not be used to treat/protect responsible teenagers who know how to limit themselves and engage in moderation when consuming drugs! Hooray. I’ll be we can go ahead and significantly reduce our EMT and paramedic force

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Mike at the Beach April 1, 2015 at 12:31 am

Notwithstanding opinions regarding legalization, since when is “cannabis” not a drug? Most drugs are based on natural substances; that doesn’t preclude their definition / regulation as a “drug.”

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The fix is in April 2, 2015 at 11:42 am

If the public only knew about the things going on up there that Leroy and the boys are covering up.

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