Arrest warrants that weren't served found in boxes at sheriff's office

CHESTER COUNTY, S.C. — On Tuesday night, Channel 9 was there as Chester County sheriff's deputies sifted through stacks and stacks of documents spread out on a long table.

Many of them are arrest warrants that were never served, found hidden in boxes at the sheriff's office. They were discovered by a shocked new Sheriff Alex Underwood, who was just sworn in two weeks ago.

"I feel like we've got to clean house in here before we start cleaning the streets," Underwood said, frustrated by what he discovered.

Right now, it's not clear why the warrants were left in boxes, and why they were never entered into the county's computer system. That mistake is a serious one in several ways.

First, each warrant not served means someone wasn't arrested for a crime. Some of them date back more than a year, to 2011.

"You need to know what they're doing here. Every single one of these represents a victim," said Chester 911 director Ginny Sloan. Sloan oversees the warrant division for the sheriff's office, and is recently back as director after leaving the job more than a year ago.

"I've stayed up 'till 2 in the morning night after night going through these. We're having to go piece by piece, page by page, and name by name," she said.

Another concern is the danger that officers are in, not knowing if someone they've just stopped on the road is wanted for a violent crime because the warrants were never in the system.

"No one would actually know if a subject is wanted. That's putting officers’ lives in jeopardy," Underwood said.

About 50 of the warrants are active, and signed by a judge. Some of them are for burglary, assault, drugs and other crimes.

Underwood has asked SLED to investigate, and said the investigation could be a criminal matter. Part of that investigation will determine whether the warrants were not filed deliberately, or simply poorly managed.

Right now, officials are just trying to figure out which warrants are active and which were canceled or redone.

"It's just a mess of boxes and boxes of stuff," Sloan said.

Channel 9 tried to contact former Sheriff Richard Smith, who left office in January. We were not able to reach him.

Sloan said the investigation could last another week until it's clear what exactly happened and how.

WSOC