FLORENCE COUNTY, S.C. — Former Columbia police chief Randy Scott has been arrested in Florence County on federal warrants issue by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms (ATF).
Deputies with the Florence County Sheriff’s Office responding to a report of a stolen vehicle out of Wilkesboro, NC say they located the 2019 Dodge Challenger at a motel on Cale Yarborough Highway near Timmonsville, SC on Saturday. After making contact with the occupants of a room associated with the vehicle, deputies took two subjects into custody.
According to the federal indictment, Scott was unlawfully in possession of fire arms and ammunition. Authorities previously said Scott failed to return agency issued weapons.
The guns belonged to the Richland County Sheriff's Department and Columbia Police in his home. Scott's warrants were issued by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms.
He's out of jail after posting 10 percent of a $25,000 bond. There's another hearing for Scott next month.
Aimee Cook of Hiddenite, NC, was also taken into custody during the same arrest on felony warrants out of Lexington County in South Carolina and Wilkesboro and Alexander County, North Carolina.
The new arrest comes almost one year after Scott was arrested on drug charges in Richland County. Last July, officers say they found the illegal substance in Scott's home.
Scott served as chief of police for the City of Columbia for more than two-and-a-half years beginning in 2010. Scott resigned in April of 2013, citing post traumatic stress disorder following the death of a deputy under his command while he worked at the Richland County Sheriff's Department.
Prior to his resignation as police chief, Scott had been on an indefinite leave of absence. Scott said it was during that time away he received counseling, and realized how much the 2005 death of Deputy Keith Cannon had impacted him.
In May 2013, Scott returned to the Richland County Sheriff's Department, where he had worked before becoming Columbia's police chief in 2010. Scott left the sheriff's department in July of 2016 due to medical problems, according to officials.
