Mainstream media takes up investigation into Deon Tedder

Seven months ago, our media company exclusively reported that Deon Tedder – then a senator-elect – was at the center of an ongoing criminal investigation into allegations of “rape” of an unnamed female victim.

Last Friday afternoon (June 7, 2024), this report finally found its way into the mainstream media.

According to reporters Cynthia Beasley And Maggie Brown from WIS TV-10 (NBC – Columbia, SC), Prosecutors in the SC Attorney General’s Office Alan Wilson “overturned an important deletion” in an incident report related to the case published last fall.

This reversal of the strike confirmed that Tedder – now a sitting state senator – was the suspect in the rape case.

As we previously reported, the alleged rape occurred on April 27, 2022 at The series – an apartment complex on Shop Road in downtown Columbia, South Carolina. Sources familiar with the incident say the alleged victim met Tedder at a parliamentary event and was sexually assaulted shortly afterward. The rape allegation was “immediately reported to authorities” and the victim agreed to pick up a rape kit, our sources noted.

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Furthermore, due to massive redactions of public documents, little is known about the alleged sexual assault.

However, the incident report on this allegation contained three pages of “additional reporting.” every word of this story has been editedOnly one line related to the “original representation” remained visible in the report – and even this line was partially blacked out.

“The victim stated that she was touched inappropriately through her clothing and later (redacted),” the original story said. “The victim did not consent to the sexual act.”

Law enforcement and prosecutorial sources cited the pending investigation into Tedder as a legitimate exception to our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the full incident reports.

“Our office has determined that releasing the individual’s name could potentially ‘prejudice law enforcement proceedings’ and potentially compromise the due process of both the victim and the individual themselves,” the city’s FOIA office said in a statement.

However, once the investigation into Tedder is completed, these documents should be released.

Prosecutory authority in this case would normally have been vested in the United States Attorney for the Fifth Circuit of South Carolina. Byron GipsonHowever, he referred the case to Wilson’s office about a month after the alleged incident.

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RELATED | SOUTH CAROLINA SENATOR-ELECTED IN FOCUS OF ADMINISTRATION INQUIRY

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A spokesperson for the Attorney General declined to comment but provided us with copies of a referral letter (.pdf) dated May 20, 2022 from Attorney Gipson – and a response letter (.pdf) dated May 24, 2022 from the Deputy Attorney General Don Zelenka take the case.

Although the WIS report did not provide any new information, it did include an official response from Tedder, who declined our request for comment last fall.

“These two-year-old allegations are not true,” Tedder told WIS. “This rumor campaign against me began after I won the special election for State Senate, and now this (Friday), just days before the election, comes out and makes it very clear that this is a politically motivated assassination. Again, these allegations are not true, and it is an insult to my family and me and a sad attempt to distract voters right before the election.”

Tedder, 34, is a native of Durham, North Carolina. He is an attorney living in North Charleston, South Carolina. Tedder graduated from South Carolina State University in 2012 and received his law degree from the University of South Carolina in 2015. Tedder was single at the time of the alleged rape but married last June.

Tedder narrowly defeated his colleague in the House of Representatives Wendell Gilliard in a runoff election in September to fill the seat in South Carolina Senate District 42 that was vacated in May by Marlon Kimsonwho took over a trading post in the administration of the US President Joe Biden.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …

Want people is the founding editor of the news channel you are reading. Before founding FITSNews, he was the press secretary for the governor of South Carolina and before that a bass guitarist and a bouncer at a dive bar. He lives in the state’s Midlands with his wife and eight children..

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