HCPD Officer with Southern Holdings Ties Arrested
By Paul Gable
One of the main police defendants in the Southern Holdings case was arrested early Monday morning for criminal domestic violence and misconduct in office and fired from the Horry County Police Department hours after the incident.
Charles K. McLendon was arrested for actions taken against his estranged wife while on duty, in uniform using a Horry County Police Department vehicle.
McLendon demonstrated erratic, abusive and potentially lethal behavior during the incident, according to details of the arrest. His actions were not unlike those he demonstrated over 12 years ago during the Southern Holdings case.
McLendon was the officer who illegally arrested Southern Holdings CEO James Spencer on August 8, 2000. According to testimony in the case, McLendon subjected Spencer to various forms of abuse in the back of a police car over a period of eight hours before taking him to jail.
McLendon initiated a “high risk traffic stop” of Spencer and placed him under arrest on the basis of a false National Crime Information Center (NCIC) entry. The entry had been removed from the system three weeks prior to the arrest on a judge’s order.
The arrest took place one day after McLendon confirmed to Myrtle Beach police officer Rodney Lail that no warrants for Spencer were listed in the NCIC.
McLendon’s police report of the August 8, 2000 arrest of Spencer was filled with false information regarding Spencer and the incident. An outstanding warrant, false identification and illegal transportation of guns were items checked on the police report to justify the arrest.
There was no outstanding warrant, no false identification and the guns were part of a legal collection legally stored in the vehicle.
The charges against Spencer were thrown out during a preliminary court hearing on the case due to lack of evidence.
McLendon later made false statements about Spencer’s arrest and his overall involvement in the Southern Holdings case in a sworn deposition.
Based on a report generated by SLED of an “alleged” investigation of the arrest of Spencer, which appeared five years after the incident, Horry County Deputy Solicitor Fran Humphries refused to prosecute McLendon and five other HCPD and Horry County Sheriff’s deputies involved in the case.
One wonders if this latest incident could have been avoided if proper actions had been taken against McLendon 12 years ago. What will happen with the charges from this latest incident?
Read a full report of the latest McLendon incident:
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/2012/12/03/3202312/horry-county-police-officer-charged.html
About time somebody locked this creep up. McLendon is a great example of the type of character and morality demonstrated by the corrupt in Horry County. Sad that instead of being arrested for the events in the Southern Holdings case, he escaped jail long enough to torment and abuse his wife 12 years later.
Can this really be true? A documented officer of the law actually getting caught and something actually happening to him? We can follow the previous documentation to find that this is a class scumbag, a low life free loader living off of the tax payers money. We know he committed crimes against humanity back in 2000. We know that this Humphries character simply followed his orders to “not do anything” because he is a gutless coward who is afraid to do his job. Jim Spencer had just about every one of his civil rights trashed and he was tortured by this wonderful corrupt COP McLendon. Why did this brain dead idiot believe he could break the law again? First of all, we know the corruption is rampant in Horry County. We know that the Officers of the Law are above getting caught. We know the Officers of the Court have a very specific history of not prosecuting “the corrupt chosen few”. Just how bad did this McLendon jerk screw up to get released from the “GOON SQUAD” ? A Hollywood movie should be made about the people of Horry County and how they let elected officials trample all over them and the courts are absolutely corrupt beyond a normal persons imagination.
This account only goes to show that the “culture of corruption” is alive and well in Horry county. It is about time that the courts woke up to the inability of Horry county and its employees to follow the law. This is so close to what happened to Jim Spencer in the Southern Holdings case that it is freightening. It is high time that the people of the state of Horry county and the state of South Carolina demanded more from their state and its courts. Only when Horry county has to face the truth and pay for its misconduct will the law be followed.
Now watch as McLendon gets off lightly as they do not want to risk him talking about the crimes he committed in the Southern Holdings case including threatening to rape my niece if I did not keep my mouth shut….he did this while he was sitting in my sisters yard in his patrol car he and the other goons in the state of South Carolina break the law not enforce the law. Check this link out and watch him commit perjury in federal court. There is no statute of limitations for this crime in this state but it does not matter even if his perjury is captured on videotape!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyZsNMCXBKs&lc=zCL4kUsF8OJVn1npuCB-yDjGGG4DMEftDIsJC83UuUs
Not only is this POS a criminal in uniform, he was also terrible at the job. My 8 year old daughter was brutally attacked by 3 neighborhood boys who tried to rape and nearly drowned her. This POS responded to the call, offered nothing except to take the report despite petechiae, tell me that I may want to drive her to school (so they could ride the bus) and then he promptly loses the report. I had to provide them with a copy of my copy. It got even worse when it finally made it to the “solicitor’s” office where the 3rd page of the report disappeared- the one page with a statement from a participant who corroborated my daughter’s story. Pure criminal lawlessness and total incompetence in Horry County. Sorry for being so pessimistic, but I honestly believe that like the Spencer case, the Hilton case and the Chamber “clearinghou$e” payoffs, the dominant media here will kick into its No Followup/Cover-up Mode and We The People will once again be denied justice.
Threatening to rape your niece? That explains his callous attitude towards my traumatized daughter. Just looking at him turns my stomach.
When they let him out on bail shortly after his arraignment did they confiscate any of his weapons? Why not all, including his throw away?