Richland County and City of Columbia Can't Keep Track of Issued Service Weapons

[Moonlight Hunter]

Ex-Columbia police chief Scott arrested for failure to return his service guns

By John Monk And David Travis Bland

August 09, 2018 10:09 AM

Updated 2 hours 5 minutes ago


Columbia, SC —

Former Columbia police chief Randy Scott has been arrested again — this time for failing to return his service guns to the city of Columbia and the Richland County Sheriff’s Department.

Scott has been charged with two counts of breach of trust with fraudulent intent. Breach of trust is a misdemeanor charge that basically means he appropriated property that he had been entrusted with.

This is the second arrest in a month for Scott, 49, who was arrested in July on a minor drug charge at his home off Heyward Higgins Road in northeast Richland.

That arrest took place during a U.S. Marshals’ task force raid for a wanted fugitive.

During that raid at Scott’s house, officers found the guns. One was a 40 caliber Glock that Scott allegedly failed to return to the Sheriff’s Department after his resignation in July 2016. The other was a 9 mm pistol he allegedly failed to return to the Columbia Police Department when he resigned in May 2013. The gun in the Columbia Police case is an limited run FN handgun, according to Scott’s lawyer. FN is a gun manufacturing located in Northeast Richland County.

Scott’s latest arrest was announced Thursday morning by Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook and Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott.

The guns Scott is charged with appropriating are listed as costing at least several hundred dollars each. Warrants in the case say the value of each is less than $1,000.

Additionally, Lisa Grazioli, 52, a former Richland County Sheriff’s deputy, has been charged with breach of trust for a shotgun found in Scott’s residence. Investigators learned Grazioli failed to return the shotgun belonging to the Sheriff’s Department. Grazioli lives in Scott’s home and resigned from the Sheriff’s Department in March 2017, a press release said.

Both were released on personal recognizance bond Thursday morning.

Scott and Grazioli both appeared before a bond judge in casual wear. They even laughed at times.

Scott and Grazioli’s lawyer, Mark Schnee, said he expects the charges to be fully dismissed, calling the accusations against his clients “vindictive” and an “embarrassment” to the sheriff’s department.

“These were not stolen or nefarious,” Schnee said. “I don’t know why they [Richland County Sheriff’s Department] want to come out and say ‘we don’t know what we have and what we issued.’ ... The Glock was given to him 10 years ago and they haven’t asked where it is?”

The gun that’s said to belong to Columbia PD was a personal purchase by Scott, Schnee said.

In Grazioli’s case Schnee claimed a Richland County Sheriff’s Department officer retrieved her badge and uniform when she left the force but didn’t know about the shotgun.

Sheriff Leon Lott said the case would be handled in court.

[JABIII]

Columbia Police department is still a thing? I am certain there is no fiscal abuse going on with that bunch...

[Moonlight Hunter]

Randy Scott(Mayor Benjamin's boy) has had problems with drugs for a long time. The freaking Marshals raided his home looking for a fugitive.

They ask him if he has any weapons, and he says, "Yep, follow me, I'll show you." Pulls out the three service weapons, Marshals process serial numbers, and low and behold, the law enforcement agencies who issued the weapons either: A) Never out-processed them B) Came up short in a weapons count and just wrote it off C) Never tried to recover the weapons

Despite all of his problems, Scott never thought being in possession of unaccounted for service weapons would be a problem he ever had to deal with.

Unless there's some easy to explain snafu for weapons reports between local and federal government, this doesn't look good for RCSD or CPD. There isn't a whole lot to go off of from either agency at this point, but Lott said they would handle it in court. What court? County court? Matthew J. Perry Court House? This is ridiculous.

[Hardwoods]

Makes you wonder what is going on with Leon Lott and RCSD. Scott was his former chief deputy. The female (Grazioli) was arrested and got a slap on the wrist and allowed to keep her job in 2016. As quick as Lott has been to fire deputies in the past it makes me wonder what is going on. The guns would have been on a inventory sheet for each of them and would need to be accounted for when they left. I’m thinking someone is in CYA mode.
http://www.wistv.com/story/33151490/...ed-without-pay

[JABIII]

Look. I have seen Leon do things that would curl your hair. 30 years later as an adult? Fuck it. They deserved it.

[Moonlight Hunter]

Makes you wonder what is going on with Leon Lott and RCSD. Scott was his former chief deputy. The female (Grazioli) was arrested and got a slap on the wrist and allowed to keep her job in 2016. As quick as Lott has been to fire deputies in the past it makes me wonder what is going on. The guns would have been on a inventory sheet for each of them and would need to be accounted for when they left. I’m thinking someone is in CYA mode.
http://www.wistv.com/story/33151490/...ed-without-pay

I'm thinking the same thing.

I like Leon. i think he cares about his job and the moral of his office. I think he's a good Sheriff. I also think Leon cares more about Leon than any of those other things.