MCBEE, S.C. — The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is investigating the McBee Police Department after a police captain and a local woman were charged in the handling of a child abuse case.
SLED charged 40-year-old Gregory P. Block with misconduct in office and obstruction of justice on Thursday after an investigation into a child abuse case that the McBee Police Department Captain was investigating.
A 34-year-old woman has also been charged with unlawful conduct toward a child and obstruction of justice.
Court documents show Block was sent to investigate after a doctor reported a young patient who may have been sexually abused in October 2024.
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Block said he would schedule a forensic interview, but did not, according to investigators.
The woman had brought the child to a medical center, where the potential abuse was reported. The child was experiencing blood in their urine.
She told medical staff that the child had fallen into a refrigerator while home alone, causing the injuries, according to reports.
Police responded, and the woman told Block that a registered sex offender had been loitering nearby.
Block called the Department of Social Services and reported that the child had been left alone at the time of the incident, investigators said. He also told DSS that the woman was coaching the child on what to say and that medical personnel said the injuries were not consistent with the explanation.
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A physician discussed sending the child for further examination, but discharged the child after discussion with the woman and Block, who said they would take the child for further treatment, according to reports. Block told medical staff he was not concerned about sexual assault.
Less than an hour later, Block called DSS again and reported that the child’s injuries were consistent with the woman’s explanation. He then told DSS he would schedule a forensic interview with the child and cancelled DSS’s response, according to police reports.
Officials said that Block then wrote a police report that contained a false statement and misleading information. He also provided a letter to a school saying that he investigated the injury.
Reports say that the woman and Block then began a sexual relationship.
The child was not taken for further medical examination, and no forensic interview was scheduled.
DSS opened an investigation in July 2025, and reports say the woman refused to bring the child in for a forensic interview. She also refused interviews concerning a prior DSS complaint.
She then requested that physicians change the child’s medical report to show that no record of sexual assault was found, according to police records.
Investigators concluded that in this process, Block provided false and misleading information to DSS, a school, medical facilities, and the police. And that the woman had placed the child at unreasonable risk of harm and interfered with both SLED and DSS’s investigations.
The Town of McBee has said that it is aware of the charges, and Block has been suspended without pay. He was arrested but is out of jail on a $5,000 bond.
Now, the whole police department is under investigation, the police chief told Channel 9’s Tina Terry.
SLED agents showed up to the town hall, Terry was told, and took records.
Neighbors told Terry that they are shocked.
“I truly think McBee has gone crazy,” one neighbor said. “Everything is coming out in the open.”
But some said they are waiting for more information to come out.
“I just wait for the facts to come out,” one woman said. “I worked EMS for years, so I worked loosely with law enforcement. Everything is not always what it seems.”
This is a developing story. Check back with wsoctv.com for updates.
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