City delays releasing Horry councilman sex case file

Myrtle Beach undercover officers were conducting a prostitution sting in October 2007 when officers arrested Horry County councilman Marion Foxworth, who represents the 3rd District, and charged him with loitering for prostitutes.

On May 14, city prosecutors dropped the charges against Foxworth after setting the case for trial twice and leveling state prostitution charges against the councilman last December.

News13 requested to see the case file prosecutors prepared against Foxworth, but Myrtle Beach Public Information officer, Mark Kruea, said the file wouldn’t be made public for up to two more weeks.

“The city is in the process of reviewing the case before we plan to make it public,” Kruea said Monday.

In a statement released May 14, Kruea explained, “The Office of the City Attorney has diligently used the time afforded by the continuances granted to both the City’s and Defendant’s attorneys to insure that proper documents were in place and to perform a detailed and careful review of all direct and circumstantial evidence, as well as all testimony to be provided by all the State’s potential witnesses.  That process is now complete.  In consideration of the totality of the circumstances and facts of this particular case, the Office of the City Attorney has concluded it is in the interest of justice to dismiss all charging documents and not proceed with trial.  No further public statement will be made.”

News13 asked to speak to city prosecutor Mike Smith, who was the lead prosecutor on the case, and Kruea declined.

Myrtle Beach Police undercover agents were conducting a prostitution sting on Oct. 17, 2007 near the 3rd Avenue South and Myrtle Street intersection.

Officers said they noticed a white Oldsmobile Brevada circling the block near the intersection where an undercover officer, posing as a prostitute, was working.

The undercover officer noticed the car, which police said turned out to belong to Foxworth, parked several yards away with its lights on, according to the police report.

The report states that when the undercover officer left the area to return to a police staging area blocks away, two other undercover officers noticed Foxworth drive toward 2nd Avenue South and park on the shoulder of the road and a known prostitute, who police identified as Dorothy Crossman, got into his car.

The undercover officers followed Foxworth and Crossman to her home on Canal Street and radioed for marked units to respond, according to the police report.

Police said the pair went inside the home for several minutes, then Crossman walked out followed by Foxworth.

Officers stopped Crossman as she walked from the home and a marked patrol car stopped Foxworth as he made a turn from Canal Street onto Highway 501 because he failed to use a turn signal, according to the report.

Crossman told officers Foxworth went into her home, pulled down his pants, started performing a sex act on himself, then propositioned to pay her $20 for sex, according to the report.

The woman told police she refused to have sex with Foxworth, but that he let her keep the money.

Officers said they found a $20 bill on Crossman when police arrested her.

Police said when officers stopped Foxworth, he denied that he picked Crossman up for the purposes of prostitution and that he “knew her,” and only gave her a ride, “This house is in my district. I’ve met the lady on a couple of occasions. I was in the house a very short period of time and forensically, the city struck out,” Foxworth said.

Officers said they noticed a “fresh fluid stain” on Foxworth’s pants following his arrest and took the pants as evidence in the case.

Foxworth said in a November 2008 interview with News13, “Have you seen the DNA results? They came up empty-handed. Eight forensic tests and six DNA tests and they can’t put her DNA on my pants, and quite frankly through the chain of custody, they can’t even prove they’re my pants.”

Foxworth said Crossman told investigators several different versions of what happened that night.

Foxworth said he refused to pay the fine last year because he is innocent and wants to contest the charges in court.

Marion Foxworth faced up to 30 days in jail and $267 in fines if convicted.

News13 has filed a formal request Tuesday with Kruea, Myrtle Beach Police Chief Warren Gall, and the city clerk’s office to inspect the case file.

As of this posting, the city has not responded to our request.