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Drug agents found traces of cocaine in former York County Coroner Doug McKown's county vehicle this week, authorities said.
But investigators don't plan on charging anyone in the case because they can't say to whom the cocaine belonged, said Maj. Robbie Hudgins of the York County Sheriff's Office.
McKown insists the cocaine isn't his.
“Unequivocally, it's not mine,” he said. “I don't know where it came from. The car's been in the county's possession for almost 30 days.”
McKown, 39, announced his resignation last month after he was arrested in North Carolina on charges of drinking while driving and having an open container of alcohol in the vehicle.
Authorities said McKown was driving his county vehicle when he was arrested and traveling with a man suspected of smoking crack cocaine. McKown has strongly denied that drugs were used in his SUV.
Because of McKown's N.C. arrest, the York County Council stripped him of his county vehicle late last month. The Chevy Blazer was turned over to the county's maintenance department, Hudgins said, and inmates cleaned the vehicle.
Interim coroner Sabrina Gast, who took over McKown's job this week, asked that drug agents inspect his county-issued vehicle late Thursday afternoon. After the allegations in North Carolina, Gast said she wanted to be sure nothing was in the car that shouldn't have been there.
“I was surprised,” Gast said of the cocaine discovery. “They did what they do best. That's why I'd asked them to come out there and do that.”
A drug dog discovered the cocaine on the floor between the center console and front passenger's seat, said Lt. Kelly Lovelace of the county's drug unit.
But because several people had access to the SUV, authorities can't say whose cocaine they found.
“We're obviously not pointing fingers or anything,” Hudgins said.
After a nearly two-year suspension, McKown returned to office in June following his acquittal on felony cocaine charges. He had been sentenced to a year's probation after being convicted of unlawfully possessing a prescription drug, a misdemeanor charge tied to a half-pill of Viagra police found in his home.
A day after his N.C. arrest, McKown was charged in York County with violating his probation.
His probation agent claims the coroner lied to probation officials about his N.C. arrest, didn't immediately notify an agent about his arrest and left the state without permission, among other offenses.
Later this month, a judge will decide if McKown violated his probation. If the judge finds he did, McKown could face a year in prison.
