On March 17, Camden County Prosecuting Attorney Richelle Grosvenor addressed the Camden County Commission with concerns about the integrity of a Camden County detective. The Lake Sun reached out to Camden County Sheriff Chris Edgar for comment. The following is his response to Grosvenor’s allegations.
“This isn't the first time I've had to respond to Miss Grosvenor's apparent dislike of the agency. But it's the second time I've had to respond to her accusations involving the same case with her comments framed differently and put out completely in an inappropriate manner.
I'm not going to repeat the detective's name. I don't believe personnel matters should be aired public.
I've already responded to the accusations of mishandling evidence in the case she's talking about and made clear the case my office submitted, had nothing to do with the evidence she had in question. The evidence could have easily been suppressed at either a defense request or the case, and the case would have been solid still.
She chose to dismiss the case using her absolute prosecutional discretion. She specifically referred to a cell phone seized from a suspect after detectives had already made the case on the suspect based on evidence forwarded to our office from internet crimes against children task force and the admission of this from the suspect.
One thing, she said during the commission meeting I agree with is we have excellent employees working here. I disagree with the characterization of any of our detectives or deputies as unreliable when I know they're all professional, well trained, effective servants of the community.
Her description of any of them being unreliable witnesses on the stand is her opinion, and I believe, may be based on the agency disagreeing with her dismissal of previously described cases concerning the cell phone.
The real victim, there's a real victim in this case, as there are in all cases, our detectives or deputies submit to the prosecutor's office, but she has absolute prosecutional discretion.
It's not against sheriff's office policy nor is it a violation of state statute to record conversations with witnesses, victims, suspects, other law enforcement agencies or anyone else for that matter.
I don't blame the detective for doing so in the conversation he had with Ms. Grosvenor about the investigation. Law enforcement officers regularly review recordings as part of their notes when conducting investigations and this is no different.
Ms. Grosvenor is no doubt concerned about the content of the recording on that conversation between her and the detective because just a few short years ago, her predecessor, Mr. Cunningham, paid the price for some of his comments on a recording when he lost his bid for re-election to Ms. Grosvenor. She did not complain about the legalities or possible county policy violations then.
Unlike Ms. Grosvenor, I will not belittle or criticize her employees. I will, however, point out that the informed citizen is a responsible citizen. Anyone is welcome to request the trial record of the prosecuting attorney's office and make their own judgment about their success or failures.
I would encourage the families or crime victims who have made their disappointments known to me and my staff after their cases were dropped by the prosecutor to not be shy about sharing that information with those who feel comfortable with it. My office will continue submitting cases — providing high quality, thorough investigations to the prosecuting attorney's office because that is our responsibility. What we choose to do with those cases is her decision.
We may not always agree with each other, but I stand by my oath to the community, and I will continue to do so in order to serve our victims of crimes. And I would never make a disciplinary or employment recommendation to another elected official especially in a public forum.”
