HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW) — Rocked by the second of two major scandals that rippled through the Horry County Police Department this year, Chief Kris Leonhardt said such incidents overshadow the everyday good that define his agency.
“The Horry County Police Department does a lot of good in the community. I have great men and women here in this department that even though these negatives are highlighted, they do the best they can,” Leonhardt told News13 Monday — his first public comments since officials last week announced the resignation of four officers who were entangled in a sex scandal.
Along with Sgt. Torry Lewis, Det. Don Kobithen, Inv. Kelsey Manemeit and Lt. Misty Gore, Horry County’s former chief spokeswoman Mikayla Moskov all resigned.
Those all came days after longtime county administrator Randy Webster announced Oct. 17 his plans to retire. His last day of work was Nov. 3.
Leonhardt said his agency launched an internal investigation about two weeks ago after a complaint was lodged via text message and made the decision early on to go public with the findings.
“We owe it to the public, to our partners, to the media to be as transparent as we can be,” Leonhardt told News13’s Adrianna Lawrence in a sit-down interview at his office. “I think actions like this speak for themselves and lets people know they can trust the Horry County Police Department.”
He also confirmed that no illicit sexual activity took place while any of the officers were on duty, though their actions were policy violations.
“It boils down to, for us, trust. Law enforcement officers must be trustworthy. We swear an oath to be trustworthy and enforce the law, and our public needs to know that. We’re going to hold our folks to those high standards and if you’re not trustworthy, you can’t be an Horry County police officer,” Leonhardt said. “I won’t allow it.”
‘HCPD is a serious agency’
In the 13 months since Leonhardt took over as chief, the county’s police force has seen its share of trouble even before the latest round of resignations.
Leonhardt earlier this year announced the firings of deputy chief Brandon Strickland and Paul Damon Vescovi for violating department guidelines in their roles handling a 2023 road rage incident outside of Loris that claimed the life of 33-year-old Scott Spivey.
Three other officers faced internal disciplinary action for mislabeling half a dozen videos tied to the high-profile case.
“Our community’s got to know that the Horry County Police Department is a serious agency. I want the best for our community, and that’s what we’re going to strive for,” Leonhardt said.
‘Very high standard’
Once the internal affairs investigation concluded, Leonhardt said there was no question that officers involved were going to lose their jobs.
Since no laws were broken, the chief said each were given an opportunity to resign.
“It was going to be a termination had they chosen not to,” Leonhardt said. “We take these matters seriously.”
He said officials don’t believe anyone else was involved, but the department will continue following up any complaints that are lodged.
“If it means officers or other employees are no longer here, then it’s going to be that way,” Leonhardt said. “Under my leadership, we’re going to hold a very high standard.”
News13 has filed a Freedom of Information Act request to learn more details about this situation. Count on News13 for updates