Richland Co. Sheriff’s Dept. files counterclaim after investigator accused of lying

COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO) — The Richland County Sheriff’s Department is filing a counter lawsuit after one of its investigators was accused of lying.

Sheriff Leon Lott held a press conference Thursday afternoon to announce the counterclaim.

“I am not gonna let somebody publicly defame and try to destroy one of my people when they’ve done absolutely nothing wrong,” says Lott.

In 2023, 50-year-old Edwin Mena was charged with “criminal sexual conduct with a minor” and spent two years in prison for molesting young female members of his own family — after investigator Deena Levine says he confessed during an interview.

Lott also says the department has statements from the victims.

“And they were forensically interviewed where they described what had been happening to them over a period of time, not once but numerous times over a period of time. The sexual abuse they had been objected to…He was arrested based on the interviews and information the victims had given us,” says Lott.

The department reports that the interview was conducted in Spanish, since Mena only speaks Spanish.

“My investigator did her job. She did it well. She took up for the victims and that’s what this system is supposed to be — we’re for the victims,” says Lott.

Mena’s attorneys say instead he attempted to deny the allegations during the interview with Levine.

His criminal charges were dropped by the Solicitor’s Office in March of 2025 for lack of evidence, leading he and his wife Dunia Villeda to file a lawsuit against RCSD and Levine — saying he never confessed to sexual assault.

“But to take and accuse my investigator of taking the scales of justice and putting her thumb on it —  she didn’t do that. What this attorney did, he just took the scales of justice and he just knocked it completely off the table,” says Lott.

ABC Columbia contacted Mena’s attorneys at the Shealy Law Firm. A spokesperson says they watched Sheriff Lott’s news conference and will release a statement on Friday, May 2.

“We’re gonna go to court where the truth is gonna come out,” says Lott.

Shealy Law Firm’s statement about RCSD’s counterclaim against Edwin Mena:

In response to Leon Lott’s counterclaim against our client, Edwin Mena, and the press conference he held yesterday, we say this: 

Edwin Mena, a husband and father of three, spent two years in jail at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center for a crime that he didn’t commit. 

The solicitor’s office dismissed the charges because there was not enough evidence to prosecute the charges against him, as confirmed by Solicitor Gibson’s press release. The dismissal had nothing to do with Mr. Mena’s health, as Leon Lott has stated. 

We filed the lawsuit only after those charges were dismissed because we had the facts to support our claims against the Sheriff’s Office. Leon Lott stated that attorneys can “put anything in this lawsuit that they want, falsehoods about deputies.” However, nothing is further from the truth. We are bound to sign pleadings, and our signatures certify that, to the best of our knowledge, information, and belief, there is good ground to support the allegations we are making. We also take an Oath not to pursue or maintain any proceeding which appears to be unjust or frivolous. As sworn attorneys take these obligations very seriously. 

We have never disputed that a teenager came forth and said that Mr. Mena had molested her as a child. However, the Sheriff Lott’s investigator did no investigation whatsoever beyond interviewing the alleged victims and Mr. Mena. Instead, she submitted false information to the solicitor’s office that Mr. Mena had confessed to the crimes when he had done no such thing. She did not need to do this to bring her case against him, but she chose this path anyway. The fact that Leon Lott showed clips of Mr. Mena’s interrogation, with no audio and out of context, where Mr. Mena appears to nod as evidence of a confession is equally as outlandish. This false information resulted in an innocent man losing two years, or maybe more, of his life because he was diagnosed with colon cancer that went undiagnosed while he was in jail. These are years he will never get back. 

Leon Lott continually referring to Mr. Mena as a child molester means that he is doing exactly what he is accusing us of doing.; however, the only difference is that we have direct evidence that his investigator lied, and he has no credible evidence that Mr. Mena molested anyone. Mr. Mena has never been adjudicated to be a “child molester” and was presumed to be innocent the entire time he was detained. Let us remind you that the solicitor’s office fully and rightfully dismissed all charges against him. Mr. Mena is, in fact, innocent. 

We at the Shealey Law Firm respect law enforcement, and we know that their jobs are difficult at the best of times. However, we agree with Leon Lott when he said yesterday that “my job is to hold these deputies and myself and this department accountable, make sure we do the right thing and hold them accountable.” When we come across an injustice that wrongfully deprives a citizen of Richland County of his freedom, we are then committed to shining a spotlight on this injustice, in the hope that we can effectuate change. The people of Richland County deserve the very best from law enforcement; accordingly, when law enforcement fails its citizens, we will ensure they are held accountable.