The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division arrested a former Charleston County Sheriff’s Office deputy Monday, charging him with stealing cash from two different houses in West Ashley and North Charleston while executing search warrants.
Troy Leo Capps, who worked as an investigator in the Sheriff’s Office Metro Unit, is charged with two counts of misconduct in office and one count of grand larceny. According to an affidavit filed by a SLED special agent in a county magistrate’s court, Capps was conducting a search at a North Charleston residence on Oct. 25 when he “did take, conceal, and carry away, without prior authorization, cash currency from a bedroom.” The cash later turned up inside Capps’ patrol car following an internal investigation by the Sheriff’s Office.
According to another affidavit, Capps was executing a search warrant two days later, on Oct. 27, when he took cash from a bedroom at a house in West Ashley. The amount he allegedly stole was not specified in either case, but the agent said it was less than $5,000 this time. Capps, who was hired in 2008, was placed on administrative leave with pay the same day. In this case, too, the Sheriff’s Office conducted an internal investigation, and investigators found the money on Capps’ person. As a result of the internal investigation, he was placed on administrative leave without pay on Nov. 2. He resigned on Dec. 1.
“The questionable actions conducted by the defendant were done in violation of his duties of good faith, honesty, and accountability in his capacity as a public official and were done against the peace and dignity of the State of South Carolina,” the SLED agent stated in the affidavits.
Bill Runyon, who represents the residents of the West Ashley home in this case, says the money was being kept in a drawer in the bedroom. He says officials told him the search was a narcotics investigation, but he has not seen solid proof of probable cause.
“In drug cases, sometimes you’ll get folks in law enforcement who will go on a fishing expedition,” Runyon says. “‘John Smith’ is suspected of doing some drugs, so they’re able to do a search warrant and search the premises searching for evidence when maybe the probable cause is a little bit thin”
Runyon says the family has not filed a lawsuit.
The Sheriff’s Office asked SLED to conduct an investigation, which resulted in Capps’ arrest on Monday. He was booked at the Charleston County Detention Center, and he will be prosecuted by the Ninth Circuit Solicitors’ Office.
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