COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - Former Richland County Coroner Gary Watts is taking two law enforcement agencies to court over what he claims was a false arrest last year.

Records show Watts filed suit on Aug. 25 against the Irmo Police Department and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.

Watts claims an April 2024 arrest of himself and nine others at an Irmo office suite in what was police described as an illegal gambling ring was “a false arrest and malicious prosecution.”

“The crack team of gumshoes in Defendant Town of Irmo’s police department (Irmo PD) enlisted the help of Defendant South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) to raid the poker game and arrest Plaintiff Gary Miller Watts, his son, and his friends,” the first paragraph of the complaint reads in part.

In an intervi

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