CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) - A State Law Enforcement Division agent from the Lowcountry has been fired amid allegations she falsified records in a child abuse investigation.
The Post and Courier of Charleston (https://bit.ly/1loImP6 ) reports that documents submitted to the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy by SLED allege Michele China inserted an alleged confession from a suspect in the abuse case a decade ago.
SLED has declined to answer questions about the case. But the agency is required to notify the Criminal Justice Academy when an officer leaves their job and to note the circumstances and detail any allegations of misconduct.
China has denied any wrongdoing. Her attorney, Kevin Kearse of Moncks Corner, said she is appealing to the state employee grievance committee.
China had been an agent with SLED for 12 years and the newspaper reported that prosecutors have begun reviewing cases in which she was involved.
The SLED paperwork submitted last November said China was suspended the previous month following an internal investigation into allegations she had mishandled a 2004 child death probe. Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone confirmed the case was from Hampton County in his circuit.
Internal investigators questioned China on whether she had altered any original records from the case and she denied having done so, according to the SLED paperwork. But the paperwork said investigators determined that a memo from a January 2005 interview with a suspect in the case had been altered last September to include a confession.
Stone said he was reluctant to discuss the case because of the ongoing SLED probe.
But he did say no one was convicted in the child abuse case which was dismissed before trial because of concerns some evidence China gathered could not be verified. Stone said his office notified SLED.
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Information from: The Post and Courier, https://www.postandcourier.com
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