Clarendon County deputies earn several awards

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What do three Romanian nationals, $16,000 in cash and some questionable electronic equipment have in common? Deputy First Class Brandon Braxton and a trip to jail. Braxton, who has been with the Clarendon County Sheriff's Office for five years, was recently awarded the 2013 Highway Interdiction Officer for his cumulative work for the year in stemming the flow of criminals, drugs and weapons into and through Clarendon County. "It's a good national award to bring back to the sheriff's office, " Braxton said, explaining that the three foreigners coming from Florida had been under federal surveillance and were aiming to fleece local residents with some high tech thievery using stolen credit card numbers and cloned debit cards. Stopping them on Interstate 95 likely prevented many local residents from "a lot of headaches," Braxton said, as the trio had a GPS programmed with addresses for ATMs. Braxton's award, though, was just one of several honors recently bestowed upon the sheriff's office by Advanced Criminal Interdiction 4:20, a national organization that teaches law enforcement techniques. Braxton, Matthew Stone and Andrew Beasley -- all Deputies First Class -- recently represented Clarendon County in Operation Strike Force, which saw over 150 officers from 27 counties and state and federal agencies descend upon a stretch of I-95 just north of us for a week in early May and round up as much drugs, guns and as many criminals as possible. And for their efforts, the local deputies were honored as the Interdiction Team of the Week for the second year in a row. Although it was really a friendly competition, Stone, Braxton and Beasley were proud to be recognized. "We were getting it done," Stone said, and going up against other officers that represent the best in the state. "You get bragging rights for a year and then you got to earn your stripes again. But it's a good feeling that you can hang with them." Braxton was also credited with the biggest bust: 55 kilos of cocaine valued at $6.3 million, and was awarded the Interdiction Officer of the Week. "You just look for stuff out of the ordinary and once you're trained to look for stuff like that it just sticks out like a sore thumb," he said. "It just goes back to good training that we got here at the sheriff's office." Stone, a 7-year veteran of the Clarendon County Sheriff's Office, said he and Beasley -- who has been here 7 months after transferring from Lee County -- work real well with Braxton; they back each other up. Being singled out for their teamwork -- and with the assistance of K-9 Units Tess and Ruin -- is a nice feather in their cap. "It kind of puts Clarendon County on the map, you know?," Stone said. "It lets everybody know we're serious. It let's everybody know we're out there working."