SC Emergency spokesman arrested on meth drug distribution charges

According to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, a spokesman for the South Carolina Emergency Management Division was arrested on drug charges on September 20.

Charles Derrec Bond Becker, 43, was arrested at his home by the Columbia Police Department on Friday morning, booked into the Lexington County Detention Center on Friday evening and released on $10,000 bail on Saturday morning.

According to the Lexington County Sheriff's Office, officers from the Emergency Management Division and the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division notified Lexington County deputies on September 17 about a “ziplock bag” found in the Emergency Management Division parking lot on Fish Hatchery Road became.

The bag contained drug paraphernalia and a baggie containing a “clear, crystal-like substance consistent with meth,” the sheriff's office said.

Drug investigators confirmed the substance was methamphetamine, the Lexington County Sheriff's Office wrote in an email.

The sheriff's office said video from surveillance cameras in the Emergency Management Division parking lot shows Becker in possession of the bag before setting it down and walking away to make a phone call.

The Department of Emergency Management did not respond to requests for comment. According to Becker's LinkedIn profile, he has been with the department for more than seven years as director of public information and external affairs.