Guns held for safekeeping lead to state investigation

At the request of the Oconee Sheriff’s Office, a state police investigation has started into the whereabouts of some guns that had been held for safekeeping by the Seneca Police Department. John Covington, police chief, released this statement today: “There have been several media inquiries seeking comment and verification of an ongoing SLED investigation involving some weapons that are alleged to be missing from the Seneca Police Dept. The weapons were not part of any criminal investigation and were being held for safekeeping.” Covington also said “on a peripheral issue that arose during this investigation,” a police officer was dismissed on January 2. He said the dismissal is a personnel matter not directly associated with the original complaint under investigation by SLED.