Change coming after guns stolen from two senior Beaufort Co. deputies

Two of the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office’s most senior deputies face disciplinary action and the department’s weapons policy will change after recent cases of stolen weapons.

Deputies will no longer be able to keep guns in their cars while off duty, Sheriff P.J. Tanner said Friday. Current Sheriff’s Office rules say guns kept in a parked car must be locked in the glove compartment or trunk and secured with a chain, if applicable.

Maj. Richard Roper, a member of Tanner’s command staff, had two department-issued Glock handguns and an ammo bag stolen from his unlocked, unmarked pickup truck at his Grays Hill home Sept. 21. His personal rifle was also stolen from the truck.

In July, Chief Deputy Michael Hatfield reported his Sheriff’s Office handgun missing from his vehicle, Tanner said. There was no sign of forced entry, and Hatfield said the car had been locked, the sheriff said.

Roper has been on the force since 1984, is a certified firearms instructor and once owned a gun shop, according his Sheriff’s Office biography and Tanner.

Hatfield has been in law enforcement more than 40 years, Tanner said.

Tanner said Roper and Hatfield would face discipline but declined to be more specific. Roper didn’t break rules by having his personal rifle in his Sheriff’s Office truck, according to Tanner.

“It’s going to fit the violation,” Tanner said of the punishment.

Two of the three Sheriff’s Office handguns were recovered while a search warrant was served at a Dale home related to a federal investigation. One of Roper’s handguns and his rifle remain missing.

The federal investigation is in conjunction with the Sheriff’s Office and related to guns and drugs, Tanner said. He expects that case to be wrapped up soon and didn’t provide further details.

In addition to the two handguns recovered under the federal search warrant, an AK-47 and Luger handgun were also found.

Two women, Dawn Lawyer, 27, and Autumn Robinson, 21, were arrested Tuesday at the Dale home and each charged with two counts of possessing a stolen firearm related to the recovered Sheriff’s Office weapons and trafficking cocaine, all felonies.

Lawyer, of Burton, and Robinson, of Port Royal, remained in jail Friday afternoon, the Beaufort County jail log showed. Neither woman has an attorney listed on court records.

Earlier that day, Torrion Cooper, 31, was arrested in Cross Creek shopping center and faces felony charges of sale and distribution of cocaine and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute in connection with the joint investigation. Cooper was released Wednesday on $25,000 bond, court records show. He doesn’t have an attorney listed.

Two men are wanted in connection with the theft from Roper’s Ford truck.

Jorome Simmons and Jharaun Washington are wanted on a warrant for breaking into a motor vehicle related to the thefts from Roper’s truck, Sheriff’s Office Capt. Bob Bromage said. They are also persons of interest in a break-in on the same street the same night, he said.

A neighbor called Roper at about 3:30 a.m. Sept. 21 to tell him he had seen two males running from beside Roper’s home and leaving in a white Toyota truck, a Sheriff’s Office report said.

Roper checked his Sheriff’s Office-issued Ford F150 and found the driver’s door open, the two handguns missing from the center console and his personal rifle missing from the passenger’s floorboard.

He told deputies he later heard gunshots.

Investigators learned the group they believe stole the weapons was targeting vehicles they had profiled to contain guns.

A warrant served on two Stuart Point homes related to the case netted the contents of the ammo bag, which included bullets and a flashlight, Tanner said. A stolen motorcycle was recovered in one of the yards.

That leaves one of Roper’s handguns and his rifle still missing, and Tanner declined to say whether investigators had leads on the weapons.

Sheriff’s Office policy says deputies are responsible for safeguarding weapons at all times. It should be clear to everyone that means locking cars with guns inside, but the new policy will erase any doubt, Tanner said.

Every staff member will have to sign the new policy saying it has been read and understood.

“It’s going to be black-and-white,” he said. “It’s going to be clear.”

This story was originally published September 30, 2016 at 11:50 PM with the headline "Change coming after guns stolen from two senior Beaufort Co. deputies."