CONWAY, SC (WBTW) – Luke Barefoot has responded after the solicitor’s office said “no credible evidence of extortion” by Barefoot or Johnny Gardner was found. 

The 15th Circuit Solicitor’s Office reviewed SLED’s findings in an investigation of possible extortion in Horry County and said on Thursday “there is no credible evidence of extortion” by Gardner or Barefoot. 

Barefoot released a statement on Friday about the solicitor’s findings. In it, he says “What troubles me the most about this whole mess is that our County Administrator’s actions exhibited extremely poor judgment in calling for a SLED Investigation in this matter.”

Barefoot goes on to say that all this could have been avoided and taxpayer money saved had Horry County Council Administrator Chris Eldridge briefed council before SLED was called in. 

Barefoot also calls for Eldridge resignation for what he calls “use of poor judgment.” 

A document from the solicitor’s office obtained by News13 details Solicitor Jimmy Richardson’s response to SLED Special Agent Jared Barkdoll.

“Based on the information you uncovered and provided in your report of investigation, there is no credible evidence of extortion by Luther ‘Luke’ Barefoot or Johnny Gardner during a lunch business meeting at the Rivertown Bistro in Conway, South Carolina on November 30, 2018,” the document said.

On December 20, 2018, SLED received a request from Horry County Administrator Chris Eldridge to investigate allegations that Horry County Council Chairman Johnny Gardner and his business partner, Luke Barefoot, attempted to extort Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corporation’s President Sandy Davis and Director of Investor Relations Sherri Steele, according to the document. 

The full document can be read here.

Gardner spoke to News13 on Thursday evening and said he’s “not surprised” by the solicitor’s opinion and letter, and that he had “100% confidence in investigators and the solicitor.”

Gardner also said his next step, personally, is to read through the entire letter for himself.

He also said he wants to present the solicitor’s letter to Horry County Council and let them make a decision on how to proceed and have an open discussion about it.

News13 also spoke with Councilman Johnny Vaught by phone on Thursday evening. He said it’s time to get to the bottom of who initiated the SLED investigation, including why it was released when it was.

He also said they have to do some fact finding and find where it originated.

Richardson previously said on February 22 that his office had received SLED’s report from the investigation. 

News13 asked Richardson if this means criminal charges are being pursued or if it’s customary that SLED would turn over the report to his office for review.

“It’s customary. We will review and get up with SLED to decide what we have or don’t have,” Richardson said. 

In January, a motion was drafted to suspend Horry County Administrator Chris Eldridge amid SLED’s investigation into extortion claims.

According to documents obtained by News13, the motion was drafted on January 4 to suspend Eldridge “until at such time Council receives a completed copy of the current SLED investigation or chooses to address this matter in a timely manner at the Council’s discretion for further consideration.” 

The drafted motion also states that in the interim, Horry County Emergency Management Director Randy Webster would take over as the Interim Administrator, should Eldridge get suspended. 

The draft motion, according to documents, was sent by Councilman Al Allen to Councilmen Johnny Vaught and Danny Hardee, as well as current Horry County Chairman Johnny Gardner on January 4 at 8:23 a.m.

On January 4, a special called Horry Council meeting got tense as SLED investigated an accusation of an extortion attempt involving the new head of the council.

The meeting lasted about 30 minutes and only had one main agenda item: executive session. It would have allowed council to privately talk about an employee matter, but it was shot down. No action was taken in the meeting.

Council voted 10-to-2 against going into executive session after several council members shared their feelings publicly.

“I don’t see what we’re going to talk about back there that we can’t discuss out here in the open in public,” said Dennis DiSabato, a councilman representing Myrtle Beach.

The employees publicly discussed were county administrator Chris Eldridge and county attorney Arrigo Carotti. Last month, Eldridge asked SLED to investigate a claim of attempted extortion by an associate of new council chair Johnny Gardner.

The claim says a man named Luke Barefoot tried to extort $40,000 from Sandy Davis, the CEO of the Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corporation, in exchange for killing a negative blog story about her. Eldridge says he listened to about four minutes of a 90-minute audio recording of a conversation involving Barefoot, Gardner, Davis and another member of MBREDC.

Some council members criticized how Eldridge and Carotti have handled the claim.

“We have a county administrator that has made allegations against the new, incoming chairman and against prominent citizens in this county with no factual evidence whatsoever,” said Al Allen, a councilman representing Aynor.

Eldridge gave a letter to council members after the meeting. 

News 13 obtained a copy of that letter, in which Eldridge requests any conversations about the future of his job to be in public.

“I will not have my integrity attacked without means of defense in public,” Eldridge wrote in the letter.

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