Former Summerville police sergeant stole money from his pants

SUMMERVILLE, SC (WCSC) – A Summerville Police Department sergeant pulled money out of his pants after being confronted with missing evidence, according to a recently released incident report.

Wade Rollings is currently facing charges of misconduct in the line of duty and robbery in two allegations, one of which concerns the theft of $ 7,493 that belonged to a person in custody.

Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act from the Summerville municipal government indicate that Rollings, who also served as the custodian of evidence, was being questioned by other SPD employees about money lost in December 2020 when shown a system log.

“When Rollings received this new information, their behavior quickly changed,” the report says. “He lowered his head and said ok, I have to tell you something.”

Rollings would then have read his rights to Miranda and said he understood them.

“Wade Rollings then stood up and said he had the money on him,” the report said. “Captain O’Meara asked him where the money was and he said in his pants. Wade Rollings then reached inside his pants and pulled out a large sum of US currency. At that point, Wade Rollings admitted to taking the money and fully making the situation his own. “

Rollings is listed as having apologized, stating that “he had never done anything like this before”.

He was then arrested and fired by the SPD.

South Carolina’s law enforcement division alleges Rollings also stole guns from the SPD’s evidence room while still employed. Shortly after his dismissal and initial arrest, Rollings reportedly went to a Ladson pawnshop and sold four guns that were missing from the evidence room. Rollings is listed as a crime scene technician on SLED’s arrest warrant.

Rollings was arrested by SLED in October on two counts related to the gun case.

“We have no video footage of Wade Rollings removing guns from the evidence room,” wrote Chris Hirsch, Summerville Police spokesperson and Investigations Supervisor. “Security cameras were not installed during this time.”

An internal audit of SPD’s evidence room has yet to be released.

“The main reason is that SLED did not complete the audit,” said Summerville City Attorney GW Parker, adding that he “understands that the delay was caused by the SLED officer assigned to the case which was transferred to Hampton County to help with the Murdaugh saga. “

Rollings’ personnel file shows that in his January 2020 performance review, his supervisor praised him for having “a great understanding of criminal investigations”, preparing “accurate reports”, working “extremely well with detectives in the division. criminal investigations “. and always [being] at work early.

However, Rollings received a warning from Hirsch in 2020 for ‘substandard quality of work’ regarding a search for bullet projectiles or bullet fragments during the investigation into the unsolved murder of a five-year-old girl. in a house in Summerville.

“It looks like Staff Sgt. Rollings searched the residence at random, which delayed the recovery of the projectile, ”the warning said, adding that a bullet was only recovered after another SPD employee searched the house. weeks later.

Rollings’ defense attorney declined to comment on this report.

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