{"id":5312,"date":"2026-07-07T20:39:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T20:39:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=5312"},"modified":"2026-07-07T20:39:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T20:39:20","slug":"sc-sheriff-dies-evidence-of-stolen-drug-seizure-cash-found-in-locked-desk-drawer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=5312","title":{"rendered":"SC sheriff dies; evidence of stolen drug seizure cash found in locked desk drawer"},"content":{"rendered":"
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DILLON COUNTY, S.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS<\/strong>) \u2014 A grieving wife, a grieving child, a handful of grieving friends, and a couple of deputies walked into Douglas Pernell\u2019s office on August 22, 2023. They were there to do something they never thought they\u2019d have to do.<\/p>

Read more Summer pattern with heat and storms continue for central NC<\/a><\/p>\n

They were loading boxes with things that belonged to Pernell. <\/p>\n

Just 15 days earlier, on August 7, Pernell was at home when his heart stopped beating. At 61 years old, the lifelong lawman, drug cop, and Dillon County\u2019s first black sheriff was dead. <\/p>\n

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Dillon County Sheriff\u2019s Office staffers posted his sign outside the sheriff\u2019s office on August 8, 2023, the day after first-term sheriff Douglas \u201cHumbunny\u201d Pernell died from what the coroner called a \u201csudden cardiac event.\u201d Pernell was a veteran narcotics officer and halfway through his first term as sheriff. (WJZY Photo\/Jody Barr)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n

Sheriff Douglas \u201cHumbunny\u201d Pernell\u2019s family and friends, which included S.C. Law Enforcement Division Special Agent Tempestt Hough\u2014who is Pernell\u2019s goddaughter and family friend\u2014were clearing the plaques and pictures from the walls of his office and sifting through his desk drawers looking for things that didn\u2019t belong to the county.<\/p>\n

When they got to a drawer at the bottom of the credenza beside Pernell\u2019s desk, the packing up stopped. The drawer was locked, and no one could find a key. A pair of Pernell\u2019s deputies came up with a plan: they\u2019d find a prybar to force the drawer open.<\/p>\n

When the drawer slid open, the fluorescent lights hanging in the ceiling illuminated secrets that the most powerful law enforcement officer in Dillon County appeared to have kept from every person who knew him.<\/p>\n

Those secrets made everyone a suspect, including the late sheriff\u2019s own family and those inside his own administration who trusted him the most.<\/p>\n

THE STATE INVESTIGATION <\/h3>\n

There were at least four veteran law enforcers inside Sheriff Douglas Pernell\u2019s office the day that drawer was opened. They all likely knew\u2014instinctively\u2014that sealed evidence bags weren\u2019t supposed to be there.<\/p>\n

But they were. Some had cash inside; others were cut and torn open.<\/p>\n

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Dillon County Sheriff\u2019s Office deputies packed sealed evidence bags inside this cardboard box after finding the bags stored in a locked drawer inside Sheriff Douglas Pernell\u2019s office on August 22, 2023. The bags held seized money suspected of being connected to drug proceeds in 16 cases. (Source: S.C. Law Enforcement Division)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The lawmen, including Chief Deputy Jamie Hamilton, had every evidence bag, document, and dollar bill collected from Pernell\u2019s drawer and placed into a cardboard tomato box. The box was sealed on all sides with evidence tape and placed in the sheriff\u2019s office evidence vault. <\/p>\n

The following day, on August 23, 2023, SLED Captain Glenn Wood traveled to Dillon County to meet with Jamie Hamilton and three deputies at the sheriff\u2019s office. The men opened the box, saw what was inside, documented it, and returned the box to the evidence room. The following day, Hamilton formally asked SLED to open an investigation.<\/p>\n

On August 24, Hamilton verbally requested that SLED open an investigation. The investigation was to determine how the money got there, who opened it, who stole money from the cut and ripped open evidence bags, and how much was missing.<\/p>\n

On August 28, nearly a week after the evidence bags were discovered, Wood, SLED Lt. Jacqueline Gause, and a SLED crime scene technician searched Pernell\u2019s office and documented the contents of the tomato box. <\/p>\n

Over the next four months, SLED agents interviewed the lawmen in Pernell\u2019s closest circle, including a man who SLED described as the sheriff\u2019s \u201cright-hand man,\u201d Pernell\u2019s second-in-charge, Chief Deputy Jamie Hamilton.<\/p>\n

SHERIFF PERNELL\u2019S CASH GRAB<\/h3>\n

By the time SLED finished its investigation into the \u201cmisappropriated\/stolen\u201d\u2014as Fourth Circuit Solicitor Will Rogers put it\u2014drug seizure cash, agents documented 26 cash seizures conducted by Pernell\u2019s Violent Crime Task Force totaling $90,644.40 between January 2021 and Pernell\u2019s death in August 2023.<\/p>\n

South Carolina law allows law enforcement to take cash in criminal cases if law enforcement believes it may be connected to crimes related to trafficking and distribution of drugs. The law also requires sheriffs to turn over those funds to the county treasurer, where they\u2019re placed in an interest-bearing account until a judge decides what to do with them.<\/p>\n

READ: GUIDEBOOK FOR SC SHERIFFS AND SEIZED DRUG CASH: <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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A circuit court judge has the authority to hold a hearing where he can decide, based on a preponderance of the evidence, meaning more likely than not, that the money is connected to criminal activity. If it\u2019s not, the money plus interest is given back to the defendant. If the judge finds the money is connected to or derived from criminal acts, the money is forfeited to the government.<\/p>\n

Agents found records of DCSO turning over $29,590 to the Dillon County Treasurer\u2019s Office from a January 2023 raid of John Henry Cabbagestalk. Deputies found the cash buried in jars, according to Inv. Ryan Bethea. The money was damaged, and deputies took it to the bank and got a cashier\u2019s check, which was later taken to the treasurer\u2019s office and deposited in the account.<\/p>\n

SLED confirmed $48,691.57 was missing from the evidence bags in Pernell\u2019s drawer connected to the remaining 24 seizures conducted under Pernell\u2019s watch: 18 of those bags were empty and the remaining six bags contained partial cash amounts totaling $3,454.83.<\/p>\n

Although state law required Pernell to turn every dollar he seized into the Dillon County Treasurer\u2019s Office, agents found he didn\u2019t. The reason: Douglas Pernell ordered his staff to turn every dollar seized by his task force officers over to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe second day Sheriff Pernell took office, he came into my office (and) he closed the door. He said, \u2018Tell me about how we handle the money.\u2019 I said, \u2018well, Sheriff, which money are you talking about?\u201d Lt. Wayne Kirby told SLED in an August 29, 2023, interview.<\/p>\n

Kirby oversaw Pernell\u2019s evidence vault, and only Kirby and Pernell had keys to the vault.<\/p>\n

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Dillon County Sheriff\u2019s Office Lt. Wayne Kirby told SLED agents that Sheriff Douglas Pernell showed up in his office on his second day as sheriff and ordered Kirby to make sure every dollar seized by his deputies was turned over to him and not to the evidence room. (Source: S.C. Law Enforcement Division)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n

Kirby said he explained to Purnell every source of money the office deals with. Purnell, he told SLED, was interested in the cash his staff brings in.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s when I spoke up, and I said, \u2018Sheriff, since now Troy (Task Force Commander Troy Jones) is going to be the head of the drug team, is Troy coming to get the money?\u2019 He said no. He said, \u2018Nobody up here needs to handle any money.\u2019 I said, \u2018Okay.\u2019 He said, \u2018I am the only one that needs to handle all the money.\u2019 I said, \u2018So you don\u2019t want me to take the money anymore?\u2019 He said, \u2018That\u2019s exactly right.\u2019 He said, \u2018I will tell the drug team all the money is turned in to me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe stopped me, and he said, \u2018If any deputy comes here to try to give you cash money that doesn\u2019t belong to a victim, you tell them to call me, and I\u2019ll handle it,’\u201d Kirby told SLED.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnytime we ever made a seizure, the sheriff told us from the get-go he don\u2019t care if we\u2019re making a traffic stop, search warrant, on the interstate; he always told us he didn\u2019t want us to get tied up, so when we got money, make sure we called him. Said it didn\u2019t matter when or where he was; he\u2019d come to us,\u201d Pernell\u2019s Violent Crime Task Force investigator Ryan Bethea told SLED.<\/p>\n

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Dillon County Sheriff\u2019s Office Inv. Ryan Bethea told SLED that Sheriff Douglas Pernell ordered him and task force commander Troy Jones to turn any money seized over to him and not the evidence room. Bethea said he maintained records of every transfer of money to the sheriff and provided those records to SLED during this August 29, 2023, interview inside the task force office in Dillon, S.C. (Source: S.C. Law Enforcement Division)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n

\u201cSo anytime we ever seized his money, that\u2019s what we done; we called the sheriff, we go to the\u2014normally to the sheriff\u2019s office, and me, Troy, sheriff, Alan, we\u2019d sit there, and we would count the money out together. Once everybody got a good count, felt confident it was there, we\u2019d seal it up in a bag, and that\u2019s when the sheriff would\u2014usually he would put his initials on the bag or sign it. And then he took possession of it and took it to his office, and after that,\u201d Bethea said.<\/p>\n

Bethea also provided SLED with records showing every transfer of cash between himself and Pernell. Those records also included records of Pernell providing Bethea and Task Force Commander Troy Jones with drug buy money. <\/p>\n

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Queen City News<\/h2>\n
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\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tSheriff dies; evidence of stolen drug seizure cash found in locked desk drawer\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n<\/h3>\n\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n
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\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tOFFICER DOWN: \u2018Why\u2019 in McBee cop\u2019s 2024 ambush will never be answered\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n<\/h3>\n\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n
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\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tOFFICER DOWN: McBee cop ticketed drivers posing as other officer in \u2018quota scheme\u2019\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n<\/h3>\n\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

The task force used the drug buy money to give to confidential informants to purchase illegal narcotics in pre-arranged drug buys used to investigate and bring charges against suspected drug dealers in Dillon County. Bethea told SLED that Pernell did not keep records of the buys and didn\u2019t require his narcotics unit to fill out paperwork when he\u2019d hand them money. <\/p>\n

\u201cReally wasn\u2019t much of a process,\u201d Bethea told SLED in his August 29, 2023, interview. <\/p>\n

\u201cCall up the sheriff, tell him we were out of money and wherever we were at, he\u2019d come meet us. He\u2019d reach in his pocket, pull out a wad of cash, count out\u2014be different amounts\u2014$300, $400, $500, and hand it to us, and that was the process from day one until the last day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bethea said Pernell would put the remainder of the \u201cwad of cash\u201d back into his own pocket and leave. Although Pernell did not keep records of those drug buy-cash transactions at the time they happened, Bethea did.<\/p>\n

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This photograph of the tomato box shows what Sheriff Douglas Pernell\u2019s friends and family likely saw when they opened the locked drawer on August 22, 2023, just 15 days after the sheriff\u2019s death. SLED agents went through every evidence bag and document and photographed each item as part of the state\u2019s investigation. (Source: S.C. Law Enforcement Division)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n

Ryan Bethea turned all of his records related to the drug buy transactions over to SLED. <\/p>\n

Task Force Commander Troy Jones corroborated Bethea\u2019s drug buy money story during his own SLED interview, right down to Pernell pulling cash from his own pocket to hand the officers. Jones also told SLED he never met with Pernell for the drug buy money handoff alone. <\/p>\n

That, according to Jones\u2019 SLED interview, seemed intentional. Jones told SLED the sheriff wanted copies of the drug buy vouchers at the end of the buy operations. <\/p>\n

Both task force officers walked SLED agents through the process of what happened when they\u2019d seize cash. They\u2019d seal the cash on the scene where they seized it and would call Sheriff Pernell almost immediately. The sheriff would then meet them at the squad room inside the DCSO, and they\u2019d unseal the evidence bags and count the cash.<\/p>\n

Once everyone agreed on an amount, the cash was sealed into a new evidence bag, the drug officers would sign the bag , hand it to the sheriff, and they\u2019d never see the bag again, according to the officers\u2019 interviews with SLED.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the sheriff would leave with the money, do you have any idea what he was doing with it?\u201d Gause asked Jones. \u201cNo, we don\u2019t see that no more, none of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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An S.C. Law Enforcement Division agent photographed an empty evidence bag found inside Sheriff Douglas Pernell\u2019s office drawer on August 22, 2023. SLED found $2,750 stolen from the sealed evidence bag from a small tear in the back. A DCSO Property and Evidence Report form shows Sheriff Douglas Pernell\u2019s signature as the last person to hold the evidence. (Source: S.C. Law Enforcement Division)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bethea confirmed that every bag of cash they ever handed Pernell was sealed inside an evidence bag. The officers also told SLED the sheriff never filled out an evidence sheet on the cash seizure transfers. <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a partial transcript of the SLED interview with Inv. Ryan Bethea on that line of questioning: <\/p>\n

SLED: \u201cDid you find that odd that there was no evidence sheet completed on money you provided to the sheriff?\u201d <\/p>

Read more Illegal fireworks caused Dunn apartment fire that killed child; woman wanted for manslaughter: Officials<\/a><\/p>\n

BETHEA: \u201cVery.\u201d <\/p>\n

SLED: \u201cAnd what was the reason why you were doing it the way you were doing it?\u201d <\/p>\n

BETHEA: \u201cWell, basically, just the sheriff told us anytime you ever get money, I don\u2019t care where you\u2019re at or what you\u2019re doing; call me. The money goes to me. And he told us that way there ain\u2019t no question about where the money\u2019s at or questions about anything. Everybody knows the money comes to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

SLED: \u201cSo for your documentation in your case files, do you have a list of money you seized in your cases?\u201d <\/p>\n

BETHEA: \u201cI do. I\u2019ve always kept copies of consent orders and the receipts, cash receipts.\u201d <\/p>\n

SLED: \u201cAnd there\u2019s consent orders and receipts generally was going with the money to the sheriff as well, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

BETHEA: \u201cRight. Everything he had, I made sure I kept copies of.\u201d <\/p>\n

SLED: \u201cSo everything you provided him, you have a copy of?\u201d<\/p>\n

BETHEA: \u201cRight.\u201d<\/p>\n

SLED: \u201cAnd this was common practice?\u201d <\/p>\n

BETHEA: \u201cThis was\u2014from day one he told us if y\u2019all get money, call me. It don\u2019t matter what time of day it is; call me because I don\u2019t want y\u2019all getting caught up in nothing. If you give the money to me, we\u2019ll know where it\u2019s at.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe times that y\u2019all would meet with the sheriff to give him the seizures for the money, he would take the evidence bag. Do you have any idea where he would go from there?\u201d <\/p>\n

BETHEA: \u201cAll I know is (it went) into his office.\u201d<\/p>\n

SLED: \u201cSo, you would generally see him; once you\u2019ve done that transfer, he would go into his office?\u201d<\/p>\n

BETHEA: \u201cRight.\u201d<\/p>\n

BETHEA: \u201cMost of the time we would count it in that squad room, put it out on the table in there, count it, take pictures, then seal it up, sign the bag, do the paperwork, and he (Pernell) would take it with him and go to his office.\u201d<\/p>\n

SLED: \u201cAnd there was nothing the sheriff would sign once you had transferred that money over to him?\u201d <\/p>\n

BETHEA: \u201cNo.\u201d <\/p>\n

SLED: \u201cNothing to document, y\u2019all\u2014chain of custody, basically, to evidence?\u201d<\/p>\n

BETHEA: \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bethea also could not tell SLED where in Pernell\u2019s office he stored the cash. Neither could Troy Jones, as both men said once they handed it to Pernell, they never saw it again.<\/p>\n

PERNELL TOOK THE JAIL\u2019S \u2018FLOWER FUND\u2019<\/h3>\n

The drug seizures weren\u2019t the only money Pernell\u2019s staff said he got his hands on and they never saw again. During SLED\u2019s investigation, agents ended up inside the jail administrator\u2019s office conducting an interview with Captain Sarah Samuel.<\/p>\n

Samuel was Pernell\u2019s jail director and still holds the title today. <\/p>\n

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Captain Sarah Samuel handed SLED agents copies of the bank account closure documents for the Sarah White Flower Fund. Samuel told SLED that Dillon County Sheriff Douglas Pernell ordered her to close the account in January 2023 and turn the money over to him. (Source: S.C. Law Enforcement Division)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n

In 2004, Samuel and her staff decided to set aside eight dollars from their paychecks to start the Sarah White Flower Fund. Bonus checks the jail received from the food vendor would also go into the fund, Samuel told SLED.<\/p>\n

The jail staff used the money to purchase flowers when someone died and to fund the jail\u2019s Christmas party. Samuel said they also purchased a refrigerator for the jail staff breakroom.<\/p>\n

When Pernell took over in January 2021, Samuel said she did with Pernell what she did with every other sheriff when they\u2019d take office: she\u2019d explain the account and would seek the new sheriff\u2019s approval to continue it. Every sheriff approved of it and never touched the money, Samuel told Special Agent Jacqueline Gause in an October 2023 interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe told me to just hold onto it, and he\u2019ll let me know when to close it,\u201d Samuel told Gause.<\/p>\n

Samuel said Pernell told her that on his first day in office in January 2021. On Jan. 17, 2023, Samuel said Pernell ordered her to close the account and bring him all the cash from it.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a partial transcript of the questioning between SLED and Samuel: <\/p>\n

SAMUEL: \u201cHe told me to go ahead and close that account and bring him the money.\u201d<\/p>\n

SLED: \u201cWhat did you say back to him?\u201d <\/p>\n

SAMUEL: \u201cI said, Sheriff, give me an hour because I was in the process of doing something, and I will go to the bank and bring you back the money.\u201d <\/p>\n

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Sarah Samuel provided SLED with these documents during her October 2023 interview. The records show the bank account balance the day Samuel said Dillon County Sheriff Douglas \u201cHumbunny\u201d Pernell ordered her to close the jail\u2019s benevolence account and to bring all the cash to him. (Source: S.C. Law Enforcement Division)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Samuel told SLED she went to the bank in Dillon, closed the account, and the bank issued her a check for the balance of $4,086.12.<\/p>\n

Pernell, she said, wanted cash.<\/p>\n

SLED: \u201cAnd who is the check paid to the order of?\u201d <\/p>\n

SAMUEL: \u201cIt was written out to me, because they cashed it and gave me cash for it so I can give (it) to him. Because he told me, \u2018Don\u2019t write a check\u2019; he told me to get cash for the account.\u201d<\/p>\n

SLED: \u201cSpecifically told you he wanted cash?\u201d <\/p>\n

SAMUEL: \u201cThat is correct.\u201d<\/p>\n

Samuel said she met Pernell in the parking lot of the Dillon County 911 center. She rolled down her window and handed him the $4,086.12\u2014every penny from the jail flower fund\u2014as he sat inside his black Chevy Silverado patrol truck.<\/p>\n

And that was the end of the bank account. <\/p>\n

SLED: \u201cDid Sheriff Pernell ever indicate what he was going to use this money for?\u201d <\/p>\n

SAMUEL: \u201cNo, ma\u2019am.\u201d<\/p>\n

SLED: \u201cDo you have any idea what Sheriff Pernell did with the money?\u201d <\/p>\n

SAMUEL: \u201cI do not.\u201d<\/p>\n

SLED: \u201cYou think Sheriff took that money for his personal use, Mrs. Sarah?\u201d<\/p>\n

SAMUEL: \u201cI don\u2019t know what he did with it, but all I know is I gave it to him on that date. But I know the jail didn\u2019t benefit from it after I gave it to him. He did nothing for the jail with that money like he said he was.\u201d<\/p>\n

TROUBLE FROM THE START<\/h3>\n

By the time SLED agents got to her office on Oct. 23, 2023, elected Dillon County Treasurer Jamie Estes was ready to tell her story. Estes recognized trouble with Sheriff Douglas Pernell\u2019s handling of seized drug cash in the infancy of his administration. <\/p>\n

Estes and her staff saw a press release in the local newspaper announcing the seizure of drugs, guns, and cash related to a drug case Sheriff Pernell\u2019s deputies made a few weeks earlier. The problem: None of that cash made it to the Treasurer\u2019s Office as required by state law.<\/p>\n

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Dillon County Treasurer Jamie Estes told SLED weeks after Dillon County Sheriff Douglas Pernell took office, she kept seeing drug busts in the local paper that included cash seizures, but that cash was never turned into her office in accordance with state law. Estes confronted Pernell about it. (Source: S.C. Law Enforcement Division)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n

And Estes, a 21-year veteran of the treasurer\u2019s office, told SLED she went right to the source. Here\u2019s a partial transcript of that exchange between SLED and Treasurer Estes:<\/p>\n

ESTES: \u201cAfter Sheriff Pernell took office, I did not receive any funds. However, I did keep seeing busts in the paper with the cash and the guns and all the other stuff, but none of that ever made it to my office. That is when I first said, \u2018Look, if you get seized money and I get an order to pay it, I\u2019m going to send it back to the judge because I don\u2019t have it. I just wanted them to understand that I\u2019m not taking responsibility for that.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

SLED: \u201cDid you inform Sheriff Pernell of that?\u201d <\/p>\n

ESTES: \u201cYes.\u201d <\/p>\n

SLED: \u201cAnd did you do that in writing or verbal?\u201d <\/p>\n

ESTES: \u201cThat was a verbal.\u201d<\/p>\n

SLED: \u201cHow long after he started being the sheriff of Dillon County did you have that conversation with Sheriff Pernell?\u201d <\/p>\n

ESTES: \u201cThat was probably 3 or 4 months in.\u201d<\/p>\n

SLED: \u201cDid you meet with him at the sheriff\u2019s office or he\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

ESTES: \u201cHe came here. He was in here for unrelated (reasons)\u2014I\u2019m not even sure why he was here\u2014but while he was here, I wanted to make sure that he understood that if I did not receive the funds, I could not give the funds out if we got an order.\u201d<\/p>\n

SLED: \u201cSo you addressed with him there hadn\u2019t been any type of\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

ESTES: \u201cDeposit.\u201d <\/p>\n

SLED: \u201cDeposits made. What did Sheriff Pernell say to you?\u201d <\/p>\n

ESTES: \u201cHe was handling it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Estes told SLED she didn\u2019t stop with Pernell. Over the next two and a half years\u2014right up to Pernell\u2019s death\u2014the treasurer said she told three different Dillon County administrators, had a conversation with Fourth Circuit Assistant Solicitor Shipp Daniel, and talked to Pernell\u2019s closest confidant: Chief Deputy Jamie Hamilton.<\/p>\n

SLED: \u201cDid you ever have any communication thing other than the sheriff about seized funds?\u201d <\/p>\n

ESTES: \u201cI had told Jamie (Hamilton), as well, that I did not have any deposits and he didn\u2019t know\u2014I don\u2019t think he understood what the sheriff was doing at that point with how he was handling the funds. And I just said, \u2018Look Jamie, if I don\u2019t get the money\u2019\u2014this is after I had talked to Douglas a couple of months after\u2014\u2019I said if I don\u2019t have the money, I can\u2019t pay the orders.\u2019 He said, \u2018I\u2019ll let him know. I said, okay.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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This SLED crime scene photograph shows the bookshelf where Dillon County Sheriff Douglas Pernell\u2019s friends and family found the locked drawer containing evidence bags with missing drug seizure money inside his office in August 2023. (Source: S.C. Law Enforcement Division)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n

Estes said she never heard any resolution from Hamilton or the county administrators, she asked to notify Pernell about his mishandling of seized drug funds.<\/p>\n

Estes did hear from Shipp Daniel. Of all the people she passed along her concerns related to the sheriff\u2019s handling of the drug seizures, Daniel is the only person in SLED\u2019s investigation who appeared to take action.<\/p>\n

In early 2021, the SLED report shows Jamie Hamilton and Shipp Daniel met to talk about Pernell\u2019s handling of the seized drug cash. Hamilton, who said he did not know the law on how to handle seized drug cash despite his years of experience working as a narcotics officer for the City of Dillon Police Department, suggested that Daniel speak with Pernell himself.<\/p>\n

Daniel and Pernell had that discussion. When Daniel followed up with Treasurer Estes in 2022 to find out whether she received any drug seizure deposits from Pernell, that led him to issue a more formal notice to Pernell about the laws of how to properly handle drug seizure funds. <\/p>\n

On March 17, 2022, Daniel asked the S.C. Sheriff\u2019s Association for a copy of its Asset Forfeiture guidebook, a simplified explanation of the state law on what sheriffs are required to do with this cash once they take it from a defendant. Daniel told SLED he not only sent the document to Pernell, but he also forwarded the email to Chief Deputy Jamie Hamilton.<\/p>\n

Our investigation into this now-closed SLED investigation unpacks who knew what and when. We also question why the new Dillon County Sheriff and county leadership waited nearly three years to start the process to refund the people who lost that stolen money\u2014money that did not belong to the Dillon County Sheriff\u2019s Office in the first place.<\/p>\n

The county didn\u2019t act to refund any of the money until months after we filed an S.C. Freedom of Information Act request and opened our own investigation into why Dillon County hadn\u2019t made this right.<\/p>

Read more 40,000 year-round students return to school in Wake County as district handles growth<\/a><\/p>\n

Watch our complete report in the video boxes at the top of this article.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the drawer slid open, the fluorescent lights hanging in the ceiling illuminated secrets that the most powerful law enforcement officer in Dillon County appeared to have kept from every person who knew him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nSC sheriff dies; evidence of stolen drug seizure cash found in locked desk drawer - Raleigh Moving News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=5312\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SC sheriff dies; 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