CONWAY, SC (WBTW) – Recently filed court documents allege that had former leaders of the Horry County Police Department addressed the “predatory behavior” of former detective Allen Large, many of his alleged victims would not have been abused.
had former leaders of the Horry County Police Department addressed the “predatory behavior” of former detective Allen Large, many of his alleged victims would not have been abused.
A 30-page court document, filed June 28 by the attorney for Jane Doe 3, one of Large’s reported victims, is in response to the defendants’ motion for summary judgment. The defendants listed on the document are former Horry County Police Chief Saundra Rhodes, and other high-ranking officials with the department including Scott Rutherford, Thomas Delpercio, William Squires, and Dale Buchanan.
The paperwork claims that Jane Doe 3 has provided evidence showing that the defendants, “while supervisors of Detective Large, actually or constructively knew that [Large] was using his position of authority as a senior detective of the Horry County Police Department to prey on female victims of crime.”
The former police chief, Saundra Rhodes, was individually called out in the document for not only being aware of Large’s conduct, but also being made aware of “widespread, predatory sexual misconduct within the Horry County Police Department,” and not doing anything about it.
It is revealed in the legal document that in another lawsuit involving the Horry County Police Department, the county was required to produce a list of all citizen complaints pertaining to “unwanted sexual advances or assaults” by an employee of the police department made between January 1, 2006 and September 26, 2016.
According to the document, 13 internal investigations were conducted into reports of sexual misconduct by Horry County police officers. Those 13 cases were in addition to complaints filed against Large. In addition, these documented cases do not include complaints that were ultimately not investigated by internal affairs.
The document states Office of Professional Standards/Internal Affairs. Dr. Timothy Maher claims reports of officer sexual misconduct were not properly investigated. Dr. Maher suggests, according to the document, that officers were consistently allowed to resign “in lieu of termination,” allowing them to transfer to other police departments without record of their misconduct.
Not only does Jane Doe 3’s attorney claim the former police chief was aware of persistent sexual misconduct by officers and detectives, but Rhodes, as the “official policymaker for the Horry County Police Department,” did not have any policies on record for dealing with reported sexual misconduct.
Dr. Maher’s expert report, according to the court document, says that the Horry County Police Department’s failure to address the widespread issue of sexual misconduct through training, policies, and procedures, contributed to and increased the likelihood that the sexual misconduct would continue.
Jane Doe 3 claims between January of 2015 and December of 2015, she was assaulted by Detective Large on over 50 total occasions which included multiple instances of sexual assault and coercion to participate in a “nude, sexual fetish ‘catfight’ video with another female victim of domestic abuse” at the home of a law enforcement officer in North Carolina.
Jane Doe 3’s attorney located video of the event, along with video of another nude catfight reportedly filmed at Large’s home, and has shown those videos to the defendants.
Large was terminated from the Horry County Police Department in 2015 following sexual harassment allegations. He was indicted on 11 criminal charges – five counts of third-degree sexual misconduct and six counts of misconduct in office – in Sept. 2016.
Large died in January before going to court on the criminal charges.