Back in 2019, Post and Courier reporters spent five months sifting through more than 5,000 pages of bank statements, receipts, lawsuits, campaign filings and IRS records to uncover numerous examples of S.C. sheriffs dipping into public funds for chauffeurs, first-class airline tickets, parties, new clothes, club memberships and luxury accommodations.
Before and afterward, criminal charges were brought against 15 of the state’s 46 sheriffs — some for misusing government funds, others for misusing government employees and a variety of other crimes. Others faced political repercussions after voters got wind of their profligate spending. SC sheriff racked up $53K on county credit card, from buffets to beach stays.
Council never knew. Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright wasn’t about to make that mistake. Unfortunately, his plan wasn’t to avoid spending tax dollars freely on items that he had no business spending tax dollars on.
It was to avoid leaving as detailed a trail as other sheriffs had done. Scoppe: SC doesn't have to look hard to find corruption. It should.
As The Post and Courier’s Christian Boschult reports, Sheriff Wright used a county credit card rather than filing detailed expense reports for $53,000 in purchases over the past six and a half years. And unlike most government employees, he wasn’t required to turn in receipts for his purchases, so he didn’t. Some of the expenditures almost certainly were allowed by both the policy the county put in pla.