DARLINGTON, SC (WBTW) – A former investigator with the Darlington Police Department is behind bars Wednesday after an investigation by the SC Law Enforcement Division.
Darlington police chief Danny Watson states that Ricks Williams was an investigator with the police department before he was dismissed June 15, 2017 for violating policy.
Online booking records from the Darlington County Detention Center reveal Williams has been arrested by SLED and charged with two counts of misconduct in office, financial transaction fraud less than $500 in six months and petty larceny less than $2,000.
SLED affidavits state he stole $910 that was seized as evidence in a Darlington police investigation and a SLED investigation from an evidence room between March 28, 2016 and June 16, 2017. According to SLED, the Darlington Police Department realized the money was missing after Williams was terminated. “Evidence proves Rickey Williams was the last individual to sign for the $910 that was to be placed in the City of Darlington Police Department’s Evidence Room,” the affidavit says.
Another document from SLED says Williams admitted to stealing and using a $100 gift certificate that was also seized as evidence in a police investigation. The gift card theft happened in November of 2016, the warrant says.
Wednesday afternoon, Chief Watson released a statement about the investigation on the police department’s Facebook page.
As police officers or law enforcement officers if you prefer it is our obligation to adhere to the same rules and laws that others must also embrace in our society. If our behavior is such that we have broken the law then we must be held accountable the same way that we hold others accountable for violating those same rules and laws. Although it is difficult to endure a situation such as this it does not change or dissuade us from the task of doing the right thing. Trust in our staff, our organization as a whole and government itself requires we all abide by the same rules. We additionally must be held accountable when we do not fulfill this promise.
In the future, although I hope the need does not arise, we will continue to hold the people that work here accountable for their actions. If such a complaint of misdeed comes again we will react the same way. We will contact an outside agency to investigate and we will abide by the findings of that organization as well as the court’s ruling should it come to that. Our obligation remains the same, that is to do all we can to insure that safety and well-being of all those that we serve.