Meeting S.C. Sheriff as Boy Led to Newest Deputy Joining Agency

By Martha Rose Brown

Source The Times and Democrat, Orangeburg, S.C.

A chance meeting between an 11-year-old boy and Orangeburg County Sheriff Leroy Ravenell a decade ago resulted in hiring of one the newest deputies.

C.J. Warner, of Orangeburg, was visiting his ill great-grandfather at the Regional Medical Center 10 years ago.

Warner, now 21, remembers when he got on the elevator from the third floor he saw someone who looked familiar.

"I was kind of looking at him," Warner said.

He asked the man "Are you the sheriff of Orangeburg?"

"Yes sir," Ravenell replied.

The two had a brief conversation.

Warner told Ravenell that he wanted to be a law enforcement officer one day.

"I've always wanted to do it since I was little," he said.

Ravenell took a special token — called a "challenge coin" — from his pocket and told the boy, "When you turn 21, come see me."

A "challenge coin" is a custom token that often bears the insignia of a law enforcement agency or a specific military unit.

They're often given by officers to deserving individuals as an expression of gratitude and appreciation for a job well done or on any special occasion.

For 10 years, Warner has held onto the coin Ravenell gave him.

He's kept it on his dresser.

Ravenell also remembers that conversation with Warner.

"He saw the badge and he just lit up," Ravenell said.

"He had the same smile then that he has now," he said.

Ravenell said he tells children to visit him when they're old enough to work as deputies.

"It's not often they come," he said.

"I just saw it in him at that time," he added.

"I made his day when he saw me and he made my day when he came back to see me," the sheriff said.

On July 18, just five days shy of turning 21, Warner visited Ravenell. On July 28, he was sworn in with the newest group of deputies in the Orangeburg County Sheriff's Office.

Warner, a 2020 graduate of Edisto High School, completed his associate degree in criminal justice at Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College.

He also took the "pre-academy" course there, which gave him for the first four weeks of his training with the S.C. Criminal Justice Academy.

He's also a volunteer firefighter for the Pine Hill Fire Department.

His parents, Chris and Angi Warner, are proud of him, he said.

"They feel pretty good. They pretty much understand. They tell me, 'Make sure you stay safe,'" he said.

Warner's father is a part-time reserve deputy at the Orangeburg County Sheriff's Office.

Warner said he's always wanted to be a law enforcement officer because he enjoys, "Helping people, solving problems and helping the community."

In his free time, he enjoys hunting and fishing every now and then.

Warner said he grew up watching the television program "Cops," which showed viewers videos of law enforcement officers responding to real-life calls for service.

Now, it's no different, Warner likes to watch the television program "On Patrol," which is similar to "Cops" and features two South Carolina law enforcement agencies: the Berkeley County Sheriff's Office and Richland County Sheriff's Department among a handful of other departments across the nation.

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