HORRY COUNTY, SC (WBTW) – The 15th Circuit Drug Enforcement Unit (DEU) says its made changes within the department after a 2016 raid left a man paralyzed.
Julian Betton of Myrtle Beach was shot nine times in a drug raid and settled for more than 11 million dollars in civil rights lawsuits.
15th Circuit Court Solicitor, Jimmy Richardson, sits on the DEU board. Richardson says changes were quickly made after the officer-involved shooting.
“Obviously to you hate that it took something like this to make changes, but they have made changes,” said Richardson, “I believe they are doing some of their best work ever right now, but it is a lot more to do with surveillance and not so much with individual street sales.”
Richardson says DEU task force is now smaller and works as an “intel group.”
Agents work to serve local police agencies to build cases against big-time drug offenders.
“The use of that information for either a federal prosecution or a state prosecution. The group of DEU is still there to assist with the local agencies like Horry County, Myrtle Beach, or North Myrtle Beach,” said Richardson.
A “threat matrix” helps agents determine if a warrant is needed in a drug case. If it is, authorized SWAT teams will execute them.
Richardson says the DEU’s most recent success was a 2018 drug bust that put 33 gang members in prison.
He says homicides in Horry County have become less frequent since their arrests.
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