Lawsuit: County, police knew detective had behavior issues since 2003

County and police officials were alerted to inappropriate contact that former Detective Allen Large had with crime victims dating back to 2003, according to court documents filed this week in the case of Jane Doe 1, whose case goes to trial Jan. 30.

Lawyers representing the woman are asking the court to partially decide the case based on the evidence in the document before it goes to trial, and cite a letter disclosed to the court, but not publicly, that top officials were warned something was wrong.

Excerpts of the letter are contained in the motion, describing in some detail what was told to former Horry County Council Chairman Terry Cooper and Lt. Scott Rutherford, who went on to become deputy chief, as well as the internal affairs investigator at the time and others.

The letter follows up on a meeting the unidentified author had with the police department to voice concerns about Large’s behavior, and complains that key omissions from their discussion were left out of the minutes taken of the meeting.

“I stated that after Detective Large spent several months of nurturing (the victim) he finally moved her into their home,” said the letter, suggesting cellphone records and a lie detector would corroborate the accusation.

The letter also says Large used “an unlimited supply of county vehicles to use while stalking” someone.

The author of the letter is not revealed in the public court documents “to protect the identity of the author and several individuals,” the court papers said.

“It was very obvious during our meeting June 20, 2003 that the police department had previously advised Detective Large of our scheduled meeting; and that an all-out effort and defense tactic was put in place to vigorously defend him,” the letter said.

“We were already alerted to the fact that the police department would probably do everything in its power to protect ‘one of their own’ therefore, we were somewhat mentally prepared. However, we were quite surprised at how defensively and personally Captain Neal got caught up in this matter,” the letter said.

The letter suggests there was some sort of reaction by Large to this meeting, stating that, “since our meeting, he has so eloquently demonstrated his power over the police department.”

The court documents do not go into detail how Large used that power, but state that five Horry County police officers assisted him.

“This correspondence places several key individuals within both the county and the Horry County Police Department on notice of Detective Large’s propensity to abuse his position of power and to use this position of power to form inappropriate relationships with female victims of crime,” attorney Scott Evans said in the court motion.

The county has declined to comment on this and four other lawsuits against the police department alleging sexual assault or harassment by Large.

“It is county policy not to provide any commentary on substantive matters relating to pending litigation,” Lisa Bourcier, county spokeswoman, said in a statement.

Large denied in depositions last year that he sexually assaulted or harassed three of the women who are suing the county. However, he admitted to encouraging them to participate in sexual fetish videos referred to as catfighting, hosting a couple of fights of different women in his home and videotaping a fight with a woman who was a victim of domestic violence.

Since that deposition, two other women have filed similar suits against the county alleging sexual harassment. The county has asked the court to delay the trial later this month for Jane Doe 1, and a decision on that delay is still pending.

This story was originally published January 19, 2017 at 4:33 PM with the headline "Lawsuit: County, police knew detective had behavior issues since 2003."