Murdaugh Murders Podcast - TSP #147 [Part Two] - Latest Lawsuit Against HCPD: Retaliations, Coverups and Suspicious Promotions for Scott Spivey Investigators

Starting point is 00:00:00 Years before, the name Ehrlich Murdoch was splashed across every major media outlet. I was a local South Carolina journalist, and I had an instinct that something wasn't right in the low country. The powerful Murdoch dynasty dominated rural South Carolina for generations. Few dared to publicly utter a harsh word against them. From the newsroom to the courtroom to the kitchen table where we recorded the number one global hit, the Murdoch Murdoch's podcast. I invite you to learn more about my... Book, Blood on Their Hands. Blood on Their Hands is a harrowing first-person narrative of battles against systemic subversions

Starting point is 00:00:38 of the truth, overcoming institutional sexism, corruption, and threats to my personal safety to expose a network of horrific crimes and give voice to victims. Click the link in the description to order today. Visit any retailers near you or visit lunasharkmedia.com slash book to learn the best way you can stay pesky and stay in the sunlight. First, we are delighted to welcome y'all to see justice or injustice unfold live in York, South Carolina on May 15th at 10 a.m. Come on over to the Moss Justice Center for a hearing on contempt. For my civil contempt hearing on a deposition that already happened. Craig Parker's lawyers think that they are owed money and we have a witness list that says otherwise.

Starting point is 00:01:33 And trust me, we will be bringing all the truths into the sunlight. You will see so many familiar faces, and for those who cannot attend in person, we hope to broadcast it live if the judge allows. So, if you can, please show up for me. We're your pink, and remember, we are fighting for the First Amendment, for common sense, for journalists to not be harassed by wealthy defendants who don't like the truth about them revealed to the public. And now we're fighting for the right to post pictures of ourselves in our bathing suits in our own backyards. Again, Friday, 10 a.m., May 15th, York, South Carolina.

Starting point is 00:02:16 Wear your pink. Before we get into Ory County Police today, we need to talk about Lee Gilley again, because the case of Lee Gilley, the Houston man accused of murdering his wife, Christabauer Gilley, and their unborn baby, who fled to Italy this week while out on bond, it has taken several turns, and I need to share some updates. First, Judge Peebles ordered that Gilly's family has to pay the court Lee's $1 million bond. This means they will have to forfeit any assets they put up as collateral. Lee's family owns the Yum Yum Shack in Pelser, South Carolina. It is also important to note that his family has fought Christ's family hard for custody of Christ's children, and they have appeared to loyally support Lee throughout his case. Second, the prosecution is asking for an order to restrict both parties

Starting point is 00:03:12 from communicating with the press before trial. We still don't know if trial will be delayed or not, depending how long it will take for Lee to be returned to the United States. Third, an Italian media outlet called Journalet La Volche is reporting that Lee appeared for a hearing on Friday and was recently moved to a prison in Tehran, Italy, while Italian and U.S. authorities work on a highly sensitive case and the process could be very lengthy. The article says that he has not been granted asylum, but he has applied for it. While all of his chaos is happening, I urge everyone to keep Krista Bauer-Gilley's loved ones in your thoughts and prayers and remember that Krista and her baby are at the heart of this story. This chaos caused by Lee only prolongs their pain

Starting point is 00:04:03 and it is a shame that the system allowed for this to happen. They did not ask to be at the center of an international news story. Please show your support by wearing purple every Tuesday and following the Justice for Krista Facebook and Instagram page. Welcome back, y'all. This is Part 2 of Episode 147. In part one of our last episode, TSB 146, we told you about Josiah Doyle, a former Ory County Police Officer who was allowed to resign after admitting that he, well, he did a lot of things at work that you are not supposed to, such as having sex with another police officer and

Starting point is 00:04:48 frequently masturbating. He also admitted to shaking his baby one time and driving drunk in his personal vehicle as recently as two weeks before his interview with Internal Affairs in October 2020. Josiah's admissions are frequently cited by sources close to the situation as the beginning of ORI County police being forced, forced, to officially deal with what had been an open secret inside and outside of the department, which was that an officer who we are calling Tamilin, for now, was having sex with more than a dozen fellow officer. plus some firefighters at the Green Sea Precinct, hence the name Green Sea 14.

Starting point is 00:05:33 Right as we were putting out that episode, we learned that our friend Johnny McCoy was holding a press conference to announce a new lawsuit. Johnny, you might remember, represents two of the five ORI County employees who were forced to resign at the end of 2025. Due to what they say was a manufactured sex scandal to cover up the alleged wrongdoings of Randy Webster and now former longtime director of public safety and emergency management. You also might remember that Old Randy had an Ory County building named after him. Old Randy was a friend to some. We'll talk more about Randy and his friends in a future episode, along with the person who replaced him.

Starting point is 00:06:19 Today we want to talk about Johnny McCoy's newest Ory County Police Department client, Danny Furr, who filed a complaint against the department and against several individual officers on April 29th for wrongful termination in violation of public policy. First Amendment violations, defamation, invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, civil conspiracy, and gross negligence. This complaint might be one of the most instructive we've seen in terms of how things allegedly work behind closed doors at what has to be the most corrupt police department in South Carolina. Over the past two years, as we've covered the Micah Frances case and the Scott Spivey case, we've really gotten to know Oriac County Police Department and how they do business. And it's not good. The department is shockingly sloppy.

Starting point is 00:07:14 It's reckless. It's good old boy entrenched. It's dishonest. It's high schoolish. And it operates in the dark. Worst of all, they don't ever seem to change. It's almost academic. Because it's not unique. When police agencies are corrupt, they tend to look exactly like this. So let's take a look at this lawsuit. Former Captain Danny Furr of Georgetown County, South Carolina is suing Ory County, the police department. The police chief, Chris Leonhardt, former deputy chief Lance Winburn, a captain named Brandon Lee, and Renee Hardwick,

Starting point is 00:07:46 who is the woman who took over for Randy Webster, the guy who abruptly retired after two women raised concerns with HR about alleged sexual harassment. Those two women are Johnny McCoy's other O'Re County Police-connected clients, by the way. According to Furs' lawsuit, he was an officer with Columbia Police Department before coming over to O'Re County Police in 1999. Now, I'm about to blow your mind just a little here,

Starting point is 00:08:12 but also, you listen to us, so you already know how oddly interesting. interconnected everything in South Carolina is. But get this, you already know Danny Fur. Here's David with a news clipping from December 13, 2006 in the Myrtle Beach Sun News about J.P. Miller's pastor daddy, Reginald Reggie Wayne Miller, whatever name he wants to go by. Yeah, oh no. Reginald Wayne Miller, president of Cathedral Bible College and senior pastor at Grand Strand Cathedral Church in Myrtle Beach is completing a pretrial intervention program after being charged this summer with lewdness and prostitution by Ory County Police. Miller was charged after he

Starting point is 00:08:59 exposed himself July 12 to an undercover officer in a bathhouse at Myrtle Beach State Park, according to a police report. You see where we're going with this, right? Back to David. Miller, who also runs Cathedral Hall Academy for 1st through 12th grades, denied the allegations in an email to the Sun News on Tuesday and said he was falsely arrested. Miller said a police report about the arrest was leaked to the Sun News this week by, quote, a number of powerful interests, end quote, who want to obtain the college property at the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base for redevelopment. Quote, the belief is that to destroy me would break down the college and ministry,

Starting point is 00:09:49 but there are scores of strong supporters who know about this incident. They believe my innocence and that I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. And quote, Miller said. Ory County Police Detective Danny Furr said Miller was arrested during an undercover operation at the state park following complaints by park goers and management about male indecent exposure at the bathhouses and park trails. According to the incident report, Fur was on his way to use the restroom in a bathhouse when Miller followed him. Quote, once in the bathhouse, Fur was in a stall urinal when the defendant, Miller, walked up behind him

Starting point is 00:10:34 with no pants on, into the next urinal and tried to look over the stall to look at Detective Fur's genitals, and quote, the incident report states, quote, defendant Miller then walked into a changing station and nodded for Detective Fur to join him, and quote. And that is when Detective Fur arrested J.P. Miller's Pastor Daddy. Guess what? That's not the only part of this you're going to be familiar with. Danny Furr's complaint is 35 pages long and pretty much detailed as far as things go. Long story short, hold on to something tightly because I'm about to shock you into Catatonia with this. The Ory County Police Department engages in retaliation. Allegedly, when whistleblowers bring attention to problems and when officers tell the truth and depositions.

Starting point is 00:11:32 Okay, you still there? You're not overcome with surprise of all that? Just kidding. Zero percent shocked, right? 0%. According to Danny Fur, the problem started when Chris Lionheart took over as chief. And not just problems for him, he said. Problems of low morale among leadership and lack of direction for officers. David, will you read paragraph 16 from the lawsuit? Plaintiff is concerned that there have been instances of misconduct and scandals in the HCPD. Plaintiff believes that many of the officers responsible for the underlying misconduct received no meaningful punishment. You don't say, no, we all say, we have all been saying this. Okay, so in 2024, Danny says that he went to Chief Lionheart and reported, quote, documented misconduct within the Department's Special Ops team.

Starting point is 00:12:33 Interesting, right? Because can someone remind me, How did Weldon Boyd save O'Re County police names in his phone? Oh, right. The now former deputy chief Brandon Strickland was saved as Brandon Strickland, S-P-E-C-O-P-S. And Detective Daniel Spencer was saved as Speck-O-P-O-P-S-Dal. So tell me more about there being some sort of trouble with special operations. David, will you read paragraph 17?

Starting point is 00:13:03 Plaintiff brought evidence that certain parts of the team were engaging in misconduct, including time-clock inadequacies, harassment of other officers, and misuse of county time and pay. The officers who engaged in this conduct received no discipline whatsoever. Rather than address the misconduct, Leonhardt called plaintiff into a meeting, witnessed by Deputy Chief Justin Wyatt. Plaintiff was placed on probation from the team. Plaintiff was stripped of his training responsibilities for the team. This punishment damaged plaintiff's reputation. Plaintiff was never provided a copy of the disciplinary record as required by HCPD policy.

Starting point is 00:13:46 When plaintiff requested it on April 9, 26, he was told the document was missing from his file. I should probably mention that back when we started looking into Micah's case in 2024, we heard that ORI County Police notoriously would hold back and misplace critical documents. lawyers in the area had a hell of a time getting complete discovery back from them because the Orie County Police played games. Then we got to see that play out with Jennifer Spivey Foley, who had to fight tooth and nail and continues to do so to get her brother's case file. And when she finally got it, it was missing many components. That said, a captain raised concerns with the chief over a very real issue because we all know what it looks like in a workplace when

Starting point is 00:14:32 co-workers get caught breaking the rules and nothing happens to them. It hurts. It hurts. morale because it means nothing matters. Except when it comes to you, you have to comply and obey and do the right thing and be perfect at your job. But the other guys, nah, they're good. First complaint outlines another incident that he says happened in July 2025 when Sergeant William Dietzel called him because of a federal lawsuit filed by a man named Thomas Wade Long. David, will you read from paragraph 18? Deetzel anticipated being deposed and feared retaliation by executive command if he was honest during the deposition. An ORI County police officer was worried that if he told the truth in the long case,

Starting point is 00:15:17 he would get in trouble by leadership. That's just terrific, right? And you know what? I believe it. Okay, we've got to talk about this Thomas Wade Long case, which was originally filed in Ory County in April 2025. But you can't sue police officers individually unless, you file in federal court, so it was moved to federal court in June.

Starting point is 00:15:40 Long, as it turns out, is not only suing William Dietzel, he is suing Lisa Vault, who he says was head of the North Precinct at the time, an officer William Dozier, as well as now former Ory County Police Chief Joe Hill, and old Brandon Strickland, who y'all know from Weldon's phone, this guy. Hi. look I got the right people I got the people coming that need to come but I need you I need you to listen to me understand me for a second okay okay it might not make sense now but it would make sense later they come out there okay yeah I get it no I get it now I understand that keeps it clean

Starting point is 00:16:23 and what you're telling me is a case and it's a self-defense thing yeah you're going to be fine you're going to be fired it's got to go through the process they're going to ask you questions They're probably going to take the Conway, 60-gallon-thalt feed. Okay. All right, but just I'm right here. I know, I know. I understand completely. It has not been a good year for Brandon Strickland.

Starting point is 00:16:47 Huh. Or maybe it has. Does anyone know how he's doing at a salesman job? Maybe he's better at selling things. I don't know. Anyway, Thomas Wade Long is the son-in-law of an Orie County VIP, former county council member Harold Worley, who was on the council for more than 30 years. He is the guy that Weldon and his parents mentioned multiple times in phone calls after Weldon killed Scott.

Starting point is 00:17:18 Have you talked to Harold? No, I want you to. You know, Harold. I'll call Harold and just kind of tell him kind of how you typed out to the employee. I mean, that's all we need to be saying, okay? Just call Harold and tell them what happened. Okay. Just call Harold.

Starting point is 00:17:43 Well, I told Harold didn't know. And, um... Harold knew because H.G. called Heath last night at like three in the morning. Oh, well, he acted dumb. So what did he say? I just told him what happened, like kind of what you went. I said, this guy had a problem before he got to Weldon, and he was pointing guns to people and driving erratically

Starting point is 00:18:15 and pointed the gun at Weldon's passenger and ran him off the road. And I said, Weldon was on 911 the whole time, And he said, was the guy from here? And I said, no, paper city. He said, those people up, they're crazy. He said, they'll shoot their own mom and dad. And he said, if we needed anything to let him nudge. So he's good?

Starting point is 00:18:46 He seemed to be. Okay. Old Harold. You know, at some point, you're probably going to go talk to Harold face to face. Say what? Well, I mean, just just say Harold. I mean, I know you've heard about it.

Starting point is 00:19:10 You know, I owe you the face-to-place meeting and this is what happened. I just want to know the truth. Because HG is involved. Yeah. So I think you need to go talk to Harold and reassure him

Starting point is 00:19:29 that, you know, There ain't anything he don't know and that everything's fine and, you know, this, you know, just all this negative stuff, you know, going on. I mean, he needs to know that it's not relevant and, you know, you're going to be back at work and you're going to be working on what y'all discussed and just kind of put him at ease, I guess. I mean, because right now he ain't heard from you. Oh, my God. Why is he so worried about calling Harold? Just call Harold Weldon. Oh, wait.

Starting point is 00:20:04 He did. Just try to stay low-key as you can. I'm staying quiet, but Harold, I'm innocent in this. Stay off Facebook. I am. But it is 100% self-defense legal. I didn't ask for this. The dude was going to kill me if I didn't shoot him.

Starting point is 00:20:21 So. You got to shoot back. I would. But I just didn't want you to be sitting there wondering, okay, is there more to this? Feel free to call Detective Alan Jones. I can give you his number if you need more info. Hell, you can call Jimmy if you wanted to, because I think he's going to.

Starting point is 00:20:43 I don't think he's calling anybody. You told me what the deal is. You've never lied to it yet. I don't know if there is a funnier flashback in this whole Weldon Boyd recorded his phone calls thing. Then hearing Harold Worley, who is the landlord for Weldon's restaurant, booies on the boulevard, by the way, saying that he believes Weldon, because Weldon hasn't lied to him yet. Oh, just you wait, Harold.

Starting point is 00:21:05 So back to the police and the lawsuit, Thomas Wade Long is the son-in-law of this Harold guy, and in 2022, Harold was running for re-election, and Thomas was dealing with a property dispute that included a number of back-and-forths with the court, which had ordered that neither Thomas nor the other interested parties could interfere with each other's use of the property. According to the lawsuit,

Starting point is 00:21:29 the other interested parties had been ordered to replace a hut of Thomas's that they had removed from the property. After Thomas put up a large campaign sign on the property, before Harold, one of the interested parties called Ory County Police. According to the lawsuit, Officer Dozier showed up and without alerting Thomas had the sign removed. Then, a month later, Thomas, still dealing with the hut issue, called Ory County Police to let them know that he would be attempting to get his property back today, from the interested parties and was worried about it causing an altercation.

Starting point is 00:22:03 Thomas said an officer told him to call 911 if anything happened. When Thomas got to the property, he found a truck blocking his access. So, as he says he was instructed to do, Thomas called 911. According to Thomas, when Officer Dietzel got there, he immediately arrested Thomas without a word. Thomas says that Dietzell made the handcuffs intentionally too tight and put Thomas in the back of a patrol car in 90-degree heat without turning on the air. While waiting for more than 20 minutes, Thomas says he passed out from the heat.

Starting point is 00:22:39 According to the suit, Dietzel was driving Thomas to the jail when he got a call. Thomas said Dietzel then said he was being told to unarrest Thomas and that he'd never heard of such a thing before. He began to drive Thomas back to the property, stopping along the way to loosen Thomas' handcuffs, and then kept Thomas in the car handcuffed, saying that he had to wait for his sergeant to come and unarrest Thomas. When the officer didn't show up, Thomas said Dietzel let him go and told him he'd be ticketed for misuse of 911. Later, though, Thomas, who hired an attorney,

Starting point is 00:23:12 would discover that this ticket was never written. Thomas, by the way, maintains that this was a political thing, a punishment for supporting Harold Worley, which is another reason the Orie County Police Department needs to be under a sheriff. The justice system can be intimidating, but it doesn't have to be. We all want to drink from the same cup of justice, and it starts with learning about our legal system. My name is Mandy Matney, and together with journalist Liz Farrell and world-renowned attorney Eric Bland, we create the perfect trifecta of legal expertise, journalistic integrity, and a fire lit to expose the truth wherever

Starting point is 00:23:54 it leads. We all encounter a part of our justice systems at one point. So, not get prepared while being entertained with tales from the newsroom and the courtroom. Cup of Justice has amazing special guests like Cheryl Crow, Vinny Politan, Emily D. Baker, and other experts to share their take on the bright side of the truth. Luna Shark Media invites you to gain knowledge, insight, and tools to hold your own or hold public agencies accountable. Search for Cup of Justice wherever you get your podcast or visit Cup of Justice Pod Okay, so according to Danny Fur's lawsuit, Dietzel was afraid to tell the truth about how this

Starting point is 00:24:41 went down, which Danny calls lawful. What isn't lawful, Danny says in his suit, is that Deputy Chief Lance Winburn had called Dietzel on Dietzell's way to the jail, telling him to release Thomas Wade Long. According to Danny's lawsuit, Winburn awarded Deetzel for this. The suit says that Dietzel had previously been found guilty by internal affairs of violating a policy in Windburn. As a result of this unarrest, unilaterally overturned the finding, which Danny Furr says violates the law. Now, Danny says when he heard all of this from Dietzell, he immediately called Chief Lionheart to tell him about it, and the Chief said he already knew. Danny says he asked the chief why Lionheart never reported to the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy then,

Starting point is 00:25:32 and the chief told him to tell Dietzel not to worry about it. Danny says he believes this is when Lionheart began scrutinizing him even more closely. According to a report from WMBF, the department opened an investigation into whether the charge of misusing 911 was proper, and only opened an investigation into Winburn's role after the news station filed a FOIA request for the case file last month. The TV station cited, quote, veteran law enforcement officer familiar with internal investigations as its source. Less than a week after that report aired, Deputy Chief Lance Winburn announced he was retiring. And get this, according to ABC 15 News, Chief Lionheart released a statement saying that this IA investigation occurred before his time as chief,

Starting point is 00:26:30 and he was not immediately aware of it, which flies in the face of what Danny Furr is saying in his lawsuit, right? If Chief Lionheart is lying, it wouldn't be the first time he was caught for it. Like back when Randy Webster abruptly retired, Lionheart told the press that he wasn't aware of any sexual harassment complaints against Webster prior to his retirement and prior to Lionheart's firing of several employees. And that is not all. In his lawsuit, Danny also says he questioned the promotion of two officers, Mick Kathman and Greg Lent,

Starting point is 00:27:08 who were both involved in the Scotsby investigation. David, will you read paragraph 20? Upon information and belief, the timing of Kathman's and Lent's promotions have led some to suspect that Executive Command expedited their promotions in order to facilitate a cover-up concerning the Spivey case. Upon information and belief, the questions surrounding these promotions have caused morale problems at H-C-P-D. Again, that's not all.

Starting point is 00:27:45 Denny also says that in March of this year, before Lance Winburn resigned, Winburn called for meeting of command staff and told them to contact their county council representatives to tell them that county administrator Barry Spivey has been interfering with the daily operations of the department. Danny Furr says that Winburn provided them with the concerns he wanted them to express, which was basically that SpyV was micromanaging chief Lanhart, preventing Lanhart from being able to do his job, which come on, right? The daily operations of the department need to be interfered with by someone. The fact that Lance Winburn and Chris Leonhardt were and are upset by whatever Barry Spivey has been doing, which, by the way, he's not related to Scott, says everything in our opinions.

Starting point is 00:28:33 Anyway, Danny says he met with two county council members, Cam Crawford and Dennis DeSabato, and told them what he really thought was happening in the department with Chris Lionheart. In other words, he didn't use the talking points he said he was given. According to the lawsuit, Crawford and Disabato asked for a second meeting with Danny to talk more about this with two other councilmen. After that meeting, Danny's lieutenant who had attended the first meeting with him, but Danny ordered to leave before spilling the guts about the problem at the department, was reassigned without warning or explanation. And Lionard called a meeting of command staff,

Starting point is 00:29:15 where Danny says the chief looked directly at him. and said, quote, Those of you who have aspirations to go above and around me for your agenda, you better cancel your plans. Danny said that multiple members of the command staff stood up for him, but were threatened with retaliation. After that, Danny requested a private meeting with the chief, where he says he told the chief that Winburn had made the order to speak to council members.

Starting point is 00:29:43 Danny said the chief said he knew, and would both deny ever telling Danny, to go speak with county councilmen. The lawsuit says, quote, Lionheart indicated that plaintiff would need to take the blame for agreeing to go to speak with a councilman. According to the lawsuit, Lionheart told Danny to cancel his second plan meeting with council members, but then the night before the meeting called Danny to tell him not to cancel the meeting. Again, there's more. In addition to the concerns we've talked about, there was another, And that is Chief Lionheart's hiring of his childhood friend, Brandon Lee, into the rank of captain. Here is Johnny McCoy, telling the press about this on April 30th at his office.

Starting point is 00:30:31 I haven't even mentioned this part yet, but the chief hired his good friend, and he's been vocal about it. He hired his good friend Brandon Lee as captain right after he was brought on his chief. And if you go through the requirements to be made captain, this guy should never have been hired on the captain level. And he brings that up and he says this is causing morale issues and confusion. Somebody needs to at least start raining in these checks and balances and also they're punishing whistleblowers. There's favoritism with this Danny Lee thing or Brandon Lee thing and there is all sorts of issues around these promotions concerning the Scott Spivey case.

Starting point is 00:31:10 And that's him meeting with the four county council members. He gets it all out there and he's assuming that they're going to take this information and make changes with it. But before anything could get done, on April 6th, the chief retaliates once again. And this is where I got pissed off. And this is the most concerning part about everything that we're talking about.

Starting point is 00:31:31 And I'm going to wrap it up at the end of this. I'm explaining why. On April 6, the chief retaliates and conspires with Captain Brandon Lee, the guy, his buddy, who he hired as a captain, to open an internal affair investigation into Captain Fur on April 6th. He didn't find out about it until way later and I'll explain that in a second which is against the rules it's against the law. You have to be notified if you're under an internal affairs

Starting point is 00:32:00 investigation. As Tristan Schaefer calls it a clandestine investigation. The investigation was kept secret from him and the best part is it was for and I quote guys when they're when they're out to get you they go and get the good stuff. This is what they open an IA against him for. Making a derogatory comment against another captain. I'm dead serious. We are beating down the doors of Worri County saying we need transparency, we need investigations, we need to hold people accountable, and this is what they choose to do their IA on. This is what they choose to do their internal affairs investigation on, making a derogatory comment about another captain. Danny maintains

Starting point is 00:32:39 that Leonhard and his childhood friend Captain Lee conspired to create fake internal affairs charges against him and that Captain Lee knowingly published a false statement about him, claiming Danny had spoken ill of another captain. And then a second Internal Affairs investigation was opened. This time, Danny was told that Barry Spivey had called for it, saying that Danny was, quote, rude to someone on the phone. But records show that it was actually Chris Lienhardt, who called for the investigation, according to the lawsuit.

Starting point is 00:33:10 Also, rudeness is not a policy violation. I mean, can you imagine if rudeness were against ORI County police procedure? They'd never have time for policing. They'd be hung up in rudeness court all day long. According to the lawsuit, Captain Heather Wilson, who you might remember from the Micah case, raised concerns with internal affairs about what she believed to be a setup of Danny by Chief Leonhardt. The setup allegedly includes trying to persuade a lieutenant to speak out against Danny. The lieutenant allegedly refused.

Starting point is 00:33:42 Chief Leonhardt allegedly advised those in the know not to tell Danny about any of these investigations, counter to policy. Again, all of that is according to the lawsuit. Danny reached out to council members Crawford and DeSavito to let them know that the retaliation he had predicted would happen for speaking to them was in full swing. Because of everything he says he was dealing with, Danny Furr decided to seek counseling through the Employment Assistance Program on April 17th, that's commonly known as EAP. Four days after that, in a meeting with counsel and the new director of public safety, René Hardwick, the one who took over for Randy Webster

Starting point is 00:34:20 and who has been described to us as a good old boy enabler, Danny again talked about the misconduct and corruption he was witnessing, according to the suit. According to the lawsuit, Hardwick asked Danny to step out of a conference room. It was then, he says, he overheard her, tell counsel that Danny wasn't to be trusted, and in fact was seeking mental health assistance through EAP.

Starting point is 00:34:46 The next day, Danny says he was called into a mediation meeting with Hardwick, Chief Leonhardt, and ORI County HR, where he was told to retire and never return to county property. Danny says that the chief told him he couldn't allow Danny to be around ORI County police officers anymore. He was banished, y'all, banished. Well, allegedly, allegedly banished. Do you see what I mean now? This case is instructive, and the biggest takeaway is this. More officers need to speak up.

Starting point is 00:35:14 If these allegations are true, the only reason people like the chief and director of public safety and other allegedly complicit officers and even council members feel comfortable doing these things is because they aren't used to anyone in their cliques ever getting held accountable. Look at the big window Danny Fur's lawsuit opened up for the public to see. The message seems pretty clear. If you speak up, you get shipped out. And not for nothing, but wow, it sounds like that place is run by eighth graders. The immaturity and complete waste of money and time trying to get back at people is sick

Starting point is 00:35:55 and all a huge waste of taxpayers' money. But it explains a lot, doesn't it? We have so much more to share with you about ORI County Police. We will not rest until this agency is completely dismantled. and rebuilt under a sheriff's system. It is not a perfect system. It's far from perfect, but the line of accountability

Starting point is 00:36:16 is much more clear and direct. If you are a current or even former ORI County Police employee and would like to help us in this mission, please contact us by emailing us at info at lunasharkmedia.com. We will keep you anonymous and we will work with you

Starting point is 00:36:32 in the best way to protect you in reporting this information. The most helpful thing is for people to let us know what to FOIA for and how to specifically ask for the record that you think are valuable. Until next time, stay tuned, stay pesky, and stay in the sunlight.

Starting point is 00:36:59 True sunlight is a Lunar Shark production created by me, Mandy Matney, co-hosted and reported by journalist Liz Pharrell, research support provided by Beth Braden, audio production support provided by Jamie Hoffman and Grace Hills, case file management provided by Kate Thomas. Learn more about our mission and membership

Starting point is 00:37:17 at lunasharkmedia.com. Interruptions provided by Luna and Joe Pesky. Together, Campside and Lunaschark present Pursuing Justice, launching later this year to shine a light on active and cold cases through the eyes of the world's best investigative experts. Pursuing justice delivers expertise and real-world experience to families and advocates falling through the cracks of the justice system. Each episode tackles a different angle of the most intriguing, most frustrating and most heartbreaking cases submitted from you, our audience, with expert analysis from around the country and the globe. How do you interact with law enforcement during the height of tragedy to get them to care as much as you do? How do families navigate media relationships

Starting point is 00:38:10 during their struggle for answers? What's the threshold necessary to cross over from mild suspicion into actionable evidence? If you know the answers or want to submit a case to us, please email info at linnasharkmedia.com. And if you want the answers and education, stay tuned. Pursuing justice premieres in 2026 wherever you get your podcast.

Murdaugh Murders Podcast - TSP #147 [Part Two] - Latest Lawsuit Against HCPD: Retaliations, Coverups and Suspicious Promotions for Scott Spivey Investigators

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