NARCOTICS OFFICER ARRESTED ON DRUG CHARGE

Affidavit Says Officer Earned $200,000 Protecting Dealer

PENDLETON - State agents arrested a 33-year-old Anderson County sheriff's
narcotics agent on a charge of trafficking methamphetamine after learning
an officer was providing protection to a drug dealer for profit.

Matthew Brian Durham of 158 Old Sanders Road in Pendleton was taken into
custody at Lowe's on Clemson Boulevard Friday, culminating a joint
investigation by the Anderson County sheriff's narcotics division and the
State Law Enforcement Division.

An affidavit stated that on at least 20 occasions between May and November,
an officer told a local methamphetamine dealer who he could sell drugs to
and still avoid arrest.

Mr. Durham had worked with the Sheriff's Office since June 1995.

SLED agents approached a "known methamphetamine dealer" on Friday and the
dealer told agents a sheriff's narcotics officer was providing protection.
The dealer said the narcotics officer gave the dealer money to buy a pound
of methamphetamine in May. Profits from the sale of the drugs were split
between the officer and the dealer, the affidavit said.

Under the agreement, the officer received $5,000 a week in payment for the
protection, earning a total of $200,000, the affidavit said.

"The Anderson County Sheriff's Office came to us with this," SLED spokesman
Lt. Mike Brown said.

Anderson County sheriff's Capt. Dale McCard said narcotics division
officers notified their supervisor of possible illegal activity. That
information was relayed to the captain and SLED was called.

"We won't stand for that type of conduct," Capt. McCard said.

When the Anderson Independent-Mail learned of Mr. Durham's arrest on
Monday, SLED officials asked the information be withheld until Tuesday due
to the concern for officers' safety and the possibility that more arrests
would be made in the case.

The case will be prosecuted by the state Attorney General's Office. On
Monday, Judge G. Thomas Cooper Jr. denied Mr. Durham bond in a hearing held
in Columbia.

The arrest was made Friday after the drug dealer, who agreed to cooperate
with authorities, made a call to an officer and learned where it was safe
to sell drugs. The two then agreed to meet at Lowe's to exchange the $5,000
payment.

After the arrest on Friday, agents searched Mr. Durham's Pendleton home and
found a safe containing $200,000.

He was taken to the Greenville County Detention Center and the Richland
County Detention Center "for his own safety," Lt. Brown said.

Capt. McCard said Tuesday that Mr. Durham worked for the Liberty Police
Department and then was hired at the Sheriff's Office as a deputy
patrolman. He later was assigned to the narcotics division and advanced to
senior investigator.