STATE TROOPER CAUGHT IN DRUG RAID

A S.C. Highway Patrol trooper and his father were arrested Friday night on
charges he was helping his father sell crack cocaine, alcohol and gambling
tickets out of the older man's Rock Hill home. Trooper Tony Caldwell, 37,
of Spartanburg and his father, Eugene Caldwell, 56, are each facing two
crack cocaine distribution charges and a single count of receiving and
possessing stolen goods. Eugene Caldwell also has been charged with
unlawful storage of liquor, bookmaking, possession of marijuana and
operating a business without a license.

Tony Caldwell was released from the Rock Hill Law Center at 5:45 p.m.
Saturday after posting $10,000 bond. Eugene Caldwell was being held at the
jail Saturday night on $10,500 bond.

Sid Gaulden, spokesman for the S.C. Depart-ment of Public Safety, said Tony
Caldwell has been suspended without pay. Assigned to the Spartanburg area,
he has been a trooper with the Highway Patrol since the summer of 2002.
Tony Caldwell and his father are originally from Chester.

About 8:30 p.m. Friday, agents from the York County Multijurisdictional
Drug Enforcement Unit executed a search warrant at Eugene Caldwell's home
at 140 E. Moore St. The task force made an undercover crack buy from Eugene
Caldwell earlier in the week, said Marvin Brown, senior commander of the
task force.

When they went inside the home, Tony Caldwell, who was off-duty and dressed
in plain clothes, rushed into the kitchen and threw a bag of crack into a
sink, Brown said. Narcotics officers recovered the plastic bag, which
contained five rocks of crack.

They also found a plastic bag with three rocks of crack in Tony Caldwell's
pocket, Brown said.

In all, officers seized 1 gram of crack from Tony Caldwell and 4.5 grams
from his father. Agents found five $100 bags of crack on Eugene Caldwell's
dresser, Brown said. They also seized $150 from Tony Caldwell and about
$1,300 from Eugene Caldwell.

The task force had received numerous complaints of drug activity at the
home in the past several weeks, Brown said.

A sign outside the home was marked, "Open."

There were four refrigerators in the house and more than 20 cases of beer
and numerous bottles of liquor, Brown said. Agents also recovered stolen
VCR's, power tools and car radios, all of which were presumably traded for
drugs or alcohol, Brown said.

Two Highway Patrol officers were called to the scene Friday night. Brown
said the trooper was not targeted in the probe.

Tony Caldwell had two Highway Patrol-issued weapons -- one strapped to his
ankle and the other in his personal vehicle. He also had his trooper
identification with him.

"He was nice about the whole thing, but our indication was that he and his
daddy were selling crack," Brown said.