Cop suspected wife was cheating and used police cameras to spy on her, SC officials say

A former lieutenant used police department cameras to track his wife he suspected of cheating, South Carolina investigators said.

Ryan Terrell has now been demoted to master patrol officer with the North Charleston Police Department and received a six-month probation following a disciplinary action report from the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy.

McClatchy News reached out to Terrell for comment June 26 but did not immediately receive a response. The North Charleston Police Department declined to comment.

On April 11, Terrell said he discovered his wife was having an affair with one of his co-workers, according to reports.

That night, other officers reported to the Office of Professional Standards that Terrell had threatened the co-worker, but the co-worker denied feeling endangered when interviewed by investigators, officials said.

On camera, Terrell was recorded telling his wife that if he caught the two cheating, “he would go to jail,” officials wrote in the report.

During his interview with investigators, he said he accessed the police department’s security cameras “in attempts to catch his wife cheating on him,” officials said.

Terrell, who officials say oversaw the technology unit at the time, is accused of tapping into the cameras’ live feeds on at least three different occasions to monitor his wife, constituting “excessive” use, according to the report.

He said he did so out of concern for his wife’s well-being, but he also said he suspected his wife had been cheating for months before he confronted her and the co-worker in a Target parking lot.

In addition to his demotion and probation, he’ll also lose access to the surveillance camera feeds, according to the report finalized June 14.

North Charleston is about a 10-mile drive northwest from the coastal city of Charleston.