As a Republican, I am so embarrassed that an elected official who ran as a Republican has performed the job he won in a manner that brings a stain to our county. Sheriff Cambo Streater must now do the honorable thing I would expect any true Republican to do: resign now. Here are a few reasons for my asking him to do this. Don’t forget to click the pictures for the reference links.
During his term as Sheriff, Damarion McCaskill, a Correction Officer at the county jail, was found to be bringing contraband into the jail. Mr. McCaskill would bring cell phones and cigarettes to the prisoners in exchange for monetary compensation. Since discovering his illegal actions, McCaskill has been charged with misconduct in office.
Sheriff Streater has also seen a prisoner escape from the jail he oversees. Emanuel Auromond Bedford, a person who is being held on kidnapping and murder charges, broke out on a Saturday night and, only by pure luck, was recaptured in a few hours. Without the lucky break of noticing his absence promptly, who knows where he might have gone and what he might have done?
It seems that the crime of sexual child abuse does not rank high on the offenses that the Chesterfield County Sheriff’s Office considers high priority. Further, our Sheriff even believes that the public should not have access to reports that might show the public this lack of concern. It took an extensive investigation by a Charlotte TV reporter to shift through the case, resulting in a department captain’s resignation. This is just another shining example of a Sheriff’s department that is out of control.
Want to get some overtime? Want to get even with other officers? Just want to screw the system? I don’t know if any of these reasons were the reason that three deputy sheriffs would phone in emergency calls telling the operator that a body had been discovered behind a local business, but that is precisely what they did. How often they did this is unknown, but all three have been fired and are now charged with misconduct in office, criminal conspiracy, and aggravated breach of peace. When I say the county has been disgraced, reporting these actions by the New York Post must have people in the New York City metropolitan area thinking that Chesterfield County has a Sheriff’s department being run by Barney Fife.
The most recent incident, though, is the one that alone should warrant the resignation of Cambo Streater immediately. The sheriff had a meeting with Chuckie Robinson, the father of Davonta “Squirrel” Robinson, who has been charged with armed robbery and attempted murder. Streater has been recorded telling Robinson that he would use his connections with the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office to make the charges disappear. What I find to be interesting is that the recording of this meeting was discovered on the Facebook page of Jordan Seidhom, a person who ran against Streater in the 2022 Republican Primary for the sheriff.
Just writing this post is enough for me to lose my appetite. Our sheriff’s actions have been reported across the country. People across the nation have got to think of Chesterfield County, South Carolina, as a Redneck cesspool of corruption. Sheriff Streater must, not should, but must resign. That resignation has got to be immediate. He also must do one last thing: he owes Chesterfield County an apology for the disgrace he has brought to us all. Cambo, do the right thing!