Update
According to Horry County Infrastructure & Regulation Division Head Steve Gosnell, Horry County Code Enforcement employees questioned the authenticity of the nine Hanco of SC soil compaction documents one year ago.
GSD first talked with Gosnell Friday at which time he said he had no personal knowledge about the documents. But, Gosnell said he would check with Code Enforcement Monday morning and get back with further information.
Gosnell called GSD Monday morning after talking with Code Enforcement personnel. He said the authenticity of the documents were first questioned approximately one year ago by Code Enforcement. After meeting with a county attorney, the documents were forwarded to the Horry County Solicitor’s office for further investigation.
“We run across this situation from time to time,” said Gosnell. “Our standard response is to discuss it with the county attorney’s office, then, forward the documents to the solicitor for investigation if further action appears warranted.”
The nine Hanco soil compaction documents were forwarded to the solicitor’s office and an investigation by the Horry County Police Department ensued.
According to the HCPD arrest warrants, probable cause for the arrest of Peter Bishop, the Hanco foreman who was involved with the documents, “is based on the statements by the Applied Geotech Technician and the Defendant.”
What did Kirk Hanna know and when did he know it?
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By Paul Gable
Voting Tuesday in the Horry County Council District 6 Republican primary runoff is clouded by the recent arrest of a one-time Hanco of SC employee.
Runoff candidate Kirk Hanna is the founder and president of Hanco of SC.
According to Horry County court records, nine arrest warrants for forgery, numbers 2015A2610700601 through 2015A2610700609, were served on Peter Bishop on June 11, 2015. Bishop is currently out on $45,000 bail.
The sworn statement on each of the warrants reads in part, “On (date of incident), while employed by Hanco of SC and working at (location of construction) the Defendant, Peter Bishop, did submit to Horry County Code Enforcement a fabricated soil compaction report on Applied Geotech, LLC letterhead and bearing the forged signature of Technician Michael Hayes.”
According to the warrants, nine separate instances of fabrication and forgery of a soil compaction report occurred at nine Hanco construction locations over a 10 month period between August 2012 and June 2013.
Horry County Police Detective Marcus Rhodes, the investigating officer, declined comment on the case because it is still in the legal process. Rhodes did say the initial incident report for the case was filed approximately one year ago, with a supplemental incident report filed later.
Horry County Infrastructure and Regulation Division Head Steve Gosnell said he was not familiar with the particular documents involved, but did say, “Horry County takes very seriously any testing that involves the structural integrity of a project.”
Grand Strand Daily requested comment from the Hanna campaign, but has received no reply as yet.
Forty-two years ago today, during the Watergate hearings, Sen. Howard Baker famously asked John Dean – “What did the president know and when did he know it?”
Therefore, it is only fitting, with respect to the nine forged soil compaction reports that were submitted by Hanco to Horry County Code Enforcement – What did Kirk Hanna know and when did he know it?
A retired chief engineer of a major development company in the northeast told me, “The general contractor is responsible for everything that goes on at the building site. With nine forged soil compaction documents submitted in a 10 month span, something’s wrong in the company.”
The ultimate responsibility and blame falls on the general contractor. It’s your project, forged documents were submitted, it’s your fault.
It is much like being the captain of a U.S. Navy ship. The captain bears the ultimate responsibility and blame if something goes wrong. It’s your ship, something went wrong, it’s your fault.
During the campaign, Hanna has bragged about his successful company. That’s fine. It’s okay to be proud of what you accomplish.
But, if the successful running of Hanco is one of the main selling points Hanna has espoused as a qualification for election to a county council seat, what do nine forged documents submitted by Hanco to Horry County Code Enforcement say about that qualification?
Speak Up…