But if a grand jury indicts him in the coming months, authorities say he could be suspended from office without pay.

McKown, 37, faces three drug charges, including cocaine possession and conspiracy to distribute cocaine, and will probably turn himself in Thursday afternoon, said Marvin Brown, commander of the York County Multijurisdictional Drug Enforcement Unit.

Brown said McKown and his girlfriend, 27-year-old Erin Elizabeth Jenkins, would have been arrested when drug officers went to serve warrants at their Clover home, but McKown wasn't there.

During a search of the couple's home, officers found two Ecstasy pills, one gram of marijuana, half a pill of Viagra, .01 grams of cocaine and one Cytotec pill. Brown said the search warrant stemmed from a drug sale May 4 when the couple allegedly conspired to distribute cocaine in a York convenience store parking lot.

After waiting several hours for someone to come out of the house early Saturday, officers knocked on the door and met Jenkins, who told them McKown was in Myrtle Beach for a bike week that she also was planning to attend.

Brown said he gave Jenkins a copy of the search warrant and told her that she and McKown were facing drug charges. Jenkins is accused of five drug-related offenses. When she asked if she could turn herself in with McKown when they returned from Myrtle Beach, Brown said he agreed.

No preferential treatment

Allowing people to turn themselves in is a common practice, Brown said, as long as people come forward in a reasonable amount of time. Brown was adamant that, even though McKown is an elected official, he won't get any preferential treatment.

"Doug McKown and his girlfriend are being treated just like anyone else on the street," he said.

If McKown turns himself in Thursday, he will likely be released on bond that night, Brown said. Then Brown said it could be at least six weeks before the case goes to a grand jury for potential indictments.

Joel Sawyer, spokesman for Gov. Mark Sanford, said that if McKown is indicted, the "governor's legal counsel would most likely recommend that the governor suspend him from office." That suspension, he said, would be without pay.

Colleagues shocked

McKown's attorney, Jack Swerling, has said McKown maintains his innocence and will fight the charges. Since word spread of the charges, some of McKown's longtime supporters and friends have been in disbelief.

"It's just a shock to think he's been charged," said Cotton Howell, the county's emergency management director, who supervises McKown on FEMA's Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Teams. Both men did recovery work after Hurricane Katrina and after 9-11.

Howell said McKown has asked to be placed on administrative leave from the team.

"It's just not him," he said. "I still don't want to believe he's done that."

Another person caught off guard by the news was Kenny Bratton. He said McKown worked for him at a York funeral home before McKown became coroner.

"I was really shocked," Bratton said. "But Doug has done very good for this county."

Before McKown was appointed coroner in 1994, Bratton said he was one of the biggest proponents for McKown to get the position.

"If he wasn't respectable, then I wouldn't have helped him get the job," Bratton said.

As for McKown, he says he's finding some comfort in the many calls from his supporters.

"You find out who your friends are at a time like this," McKown said.