Almost one in four county sheriffs in South Carolina have been accused (and sometimes convicted) of lawbreaking in the past decade, but a five-month investigation by the Charleston Post and Courier uncovered a fresh string of "questionable spending and behavior" from sheriffs all over the state. "Sheriffs have embezzled, bribed and dipped into public funds for expensive chauffeurs. They’ve driven drunk and bullied other public officials. They’ve been accused of leveraging their power to sexually assault their female employees," Tony Bartelme and Joseph Cranney report.
Reporters dug through more than 5,000 pages of spending records from all 46 counties and interviewed criminal-justice experts as well as current and former deputies. "Among the findings: some sheriffs spent public money on luxury accommodations, personal clothing and a host of other questionable purchases," they report. "Chester County Sheriff Alex Underwood spent thousands to fly first class to conferences. Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott used thousands of dollars in campaign funds to join a private club where members dine on beef tenderloin and rack of lamb."
A rural county's sheriff is often its most powerful public official. South Carolina law gives sheriffs near-complete control over firing whistleblowers or employees who won't help out with wrongdoing. The scandals suggest that current laws and power structures helped create "a culture of secrecy that allows wrongdoing to fester" in South Carolina and in other states, Bartelme and Cranney report.
"South Carolina lawmakers have long had the power to create more checks and balances. But decade after decade they’ve stood by as corruption cases piled up," Bartelme and Cranney report. "The result is a system that generates scandals on a regular basis, a status quo that hands sheriffs a license to operate as if they’re above the law."
Reporters dug through more than 5,000 pages of spending records from all 46 counties and interviewed criminal-justice experts as well as current and former deputies. "Among the findings: some sheriffs spent public money on luxury accommodations, personal clothing and a host of other questionable purchases," they report. "Chester County Sheriff Alex Underwood spent thousands to fly first class to conferences. Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott used thousands of dollars in campaign funds to join a private club where members dine on beef tenderloin and rack of lamb."
A rural county's sheriff is often its most powerful public official. South Carolina law gives sheriffs near-complete control over firing whistleblowers or employees who won't help out with wrongdoing. The scandals suggest that current laws and power structures helped create "a culture of secrecy that allows wrongdoing to fester" in South Carolina and in other states, Bartelme and Cranney report.
"South Carolina lawmakers have long had the power to create more checks and balances. But decade after decade they’ve stood by as corruption cases piled up," Bartelme and Cranney report. "The result is a system that generates scandals on a regular basis, a status quo that hands sheriffs a license to operate as if they’re above the law."
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