Court Chronicles: Public Trust Scandals

By Jessica Scipio

October 7, 2025

4:12 AM

Unraveling Corruption

A Wave of Scandals Rocks South Carolina's Public Institutions

In recent years, South Carolina has grappled with a troubling array of fraud, corruption, waste, and abuse cases that have eroded public trust in its government and judicial systems. From 2020 to 2025, federal and state investigations have uncovered schemes involving embezzlement, bribery, and misuse of public funds, often perpetrated by elected officials and judicial figures. High-profile arrests and indictments, including those of sheriffs, judges, and city council members, highlight systemic vulnerabilities in oversight and ethics enforcement. These incidents, spanning healthcare fraud to political bribery, have prompted calls for reform amid a national healthcare takedown and local probes into organized crime.

WHAT'S GOING ON IN THE SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT?

One of the most striking examples involves law enforcement leadership, with at least 16 South Carolina sheriffs charged with crimes since 2010, several since 2020. Former Spartanburg County Sheriff Charles "Chuck" Wright, 68, pleaded guilty on September 25, 2025, to wire fraud conspiracy, embezzlement of public funds, and obtaining controlled substances by misrepresentation. Wright and former chaplain Amos Durham allegedly conspired to steal over $17,000 from a police benevolent fund, using the money for unauthorized personal purchases like meals and travel, while Wright also pilfered 147 pain pills from a drug take-back program. This case, part of a broader pattern, follows charges against Berkeley County Sheriff Wayne DeWitt in 2022 for a second DUI and Colleton County Sheriff Robert Anderson Strickland Jr. in early 2025 for second-degree domestic violence, underscoring waste and abuse in sheriff's offices.

WHAT'S GOING ON WITH THE JUDGES?

The judiciary has not been immune, with investigations revealing misconduct among judges that undermines the bench's integrity. Charleston County Magistrate Judge James Benjamin Gosnell Jr., 68, was arrested on September 16, 2025, and charged federally with possession of child sexual abuse material; he was immediately suspended by the South Carolina Supreme Court pending the case's resolution. In a separate probe, retired 14th Circuit Court Judge Perry Buckner faced FBI questioning in late 2023 over alleged corruption ties to the Murdaugh family and law firm, including undisclosed benefits like private plane flights, meals, and trips subsidized by the firm during his tenure. The ongoing investigation, coordinated with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, has also scrutinized other local officials. Broader judicial oversight data from the South Carolina Judicial Branch shows 437 complaints filed against judges from July 2024 to June 2025, resulting in six confidential admonitions and one Supreme Court admonition for violations like failing to maintain impartiality and courtesy under the Code of Judicial Conduct.

WHAT'S GOING ON WITH THE COUNCIL MEMBERS?

Public corruption at the municipal level came to a head in North Charleston, where a federal investigation led to charges against eight individuals on February 26, 2025, including three city council members in a sprawling bribery scheme. Councilman Jerome Sydney Heyward, 61, faced multiple counts of extortion, bribery, honest services wire fraud, theft from federal programs, and money laundering for allegedly demanding kickbacks on city contracts. Fellow council members Sandino Savalas Moses, 50, was charged with misprision of a felony, while Mike A. Brown, 46, faced conspiracy to commit bribery and wire fraud. Others included foundation founder Donavan Laval Moten, 46; resident Aaron Charles-Lee Hicks, 37; Goose Creek resident Hason Tatorian "Tory" Fields, 51 (who pleaded guilty to bribery conspiracy on August 6, 2025); North Carolina resident Rose Emily Lorenzo, 65; and North Charleston resident Michelle Stent-Hilton, 56, all implicated in steering federal funds through fraudulent nonprofits. Several, including Heyward, Moten, Hicks, and Moses, were scheduled to plead guilty by late February 2025, with additional superseding indictments filed in September.

WHAT'S GOING ON IN HEALTH CARE?

Healthcare fraud has drained millions from South Carolina's systems, exemplified by two state cases in a massive national takedown announced June 30, 2025. Florence resident Tina Marie Armstrong, 67, owner of Safe at Home Medical Equipment and Supplies, LLC, was indicted for health care fraud and aggravated identity theft after submitting $198,981 in false Medicare and Medicaid claims for undelivered or unauthorized durable medical equipment, with $104,577 paid out. Similarly, Dee Alice Moton, 51, from Hephzibah, Georgia, but operating Flowing Hands Massage Clinical Therapy in Aiken, South Carolina, faced health care fraud charges for billing the Veterans Administration $2.37 million over two years for unrendered services, including impossible treatments like wheelchair therapy for non-users. In a related cross-border Medicaid scam uncovered in Operation Border War since 2020, eight defendants—including Donald Calvin Saunders, 62, of Charlotte; Vanessa Ragin-Boatright, 59, of Manning; and Dajuan Strickland, 47, of Charlotte—were charged June 30, 2025, with conspiracy, fraud, and money laundering for a $21 million scheme exploiting disabled children's data through fake behavioral health claims.

THE SOUTH CAROLINA JUDICIAL SYSTEM

THE COURTS & IT'S SLAVE MASTERS IN 2025

LOOK AT MY DAMN UNCLE, WIT HIS FRAUD ASS, AINT THIS YOU?

Clerks of Court

Embezzlement and Ethical Lapses

South Carolina's clerks of court, responsible for managing judicial records and public funds, have faced mounting allegations of corruption that highlight vulnerabilities in administrative oversight. On August 13, 2025, the South Carolina State Grand Jury indicted Sharon Staggers, 62, the former Williamsburg County Clerk of Court, on 10 counts of public corruption, including nine counts of embezzling public funds totaling $119,499 and one count each of using her position for financial gain and misconduct in office. Prosecutors allege Staggers diverted Title IV-D child support enforcement funds into her salary and personal accounts between 2018 and 2023, marking her as the third Williamsburg County official indicted on corruption charges in six months, following the sheriff and a county supervisor. This case, investigated by the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED), underscores a pattern of fiscal abuse in rural counties where clerks handle sensitive financial transactions with limited audits.

In Colleton County, the high-profile Murdaugh murder trial amplified scrutiny on clerical integrity, leading to the arrest of Rebecca "Becky" Hill, 57, the former Clerk of Court, on May 14, 2025. Hill faces one felony count of obstruction of justice, two counts of misconduct in office, and one count of perjury, stemming from her alleged tampering with juror deliberations and false statements about Alex Murdaugh's demeanor to influence the 2023 verdict. SLED's probe, initiated after appellate concerns, revealed Hill's misuse of office for personal gain, including unauthorized bonuses and book sales exploiting trial publicity. Suspended in March 2024 amid ethics violations, Hill's charges—filed in Colleton and Charleston Counties—have prompted broader reviews of clerk conduct codes, with the South Carolina Clerks of Court Association calling for mandatory ethics training to prevent such abuses.

Tax Assessors

Fraudulent Property Tax Irregularities

While direct corruption cases against South Carolina's county tax assessors remain rare, investigations into property tax manipulations and related fraud schemes have exposed irregularities in valuation processes and credit abuses, eroding confidence in local revenue systems. In Greenville County, a 2022 SLED probe into assessor misconduct led to the resignation of Tax Assessor David Taylor in July 2023 after allegations of favoritism in property reassessments for political donors, though no criminal charges were filed; the case prompted a state audit revealing over $2 million in undervalued assessments from 2019-2022. Similarly, in Horry County, assessor office employee Lisa Johnson, 45, was arrested on June 16, 2025, for seven counts of making false or fraudulent tax returns and seven counts of tax evasion, linked to a seven-year scheme inflating deductions on commercial properties she assessed, defrauding the county of $450,000 in revenue. These incidents, often intertwined with broader tax preparer fraud, have fueled legislative pushes for independent assessor oversight boards.

A larger scandal unfolded in July 2025 when grand juries across six counties indicted 31 defendants—primarily Upstate farmers and tax preparers—for a $1 million milk and ammonia tax credit fraud ring operating from 2021 to 2024. While not directly implicating assessors, the scheme exploited assessor-verified agricultural exemptions, with figures like Spartanburg County farmer Robert Kline, 58, charged with conspiracy and false claims after falsifying production records to claim ineligible refunds. The South Carolina Department of Revenue's investigation highlighted assessor office lapses in verifying credit eligibility, leading to enhanced training mandates and a statewide property tax fraud task force to curb waste in the $8 billion annual system.

The South Carolina Federal District Court

The Crime Syndicate of Fraud, Waste, Abuse

The U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina has been both a battleground for prosecuting statewide fraud and a focal point for internal corruption inquiries, with federal probes targeting judicial misconduct since 2020. In April 2025, a Florence division grand jury indicted tax preparer Talisha Cooper, 44, on 43 counts of preparing false tax returns, defrauding the IRS of over $1.2 million through fabricated deductions and credits from 2018-2023; Cooper, operating in the Eastern District, exploited low-income filers in rural counties. This case, part of 18 U.S.C. § 7206 violations, reflects the court's role in high-volume tax fraud dockets, with June 2025 seeing four convictions under 18 U.S.C. § 666 for theft in federally funded programs, including a Charleston clerk embezzling grant monies.

Federal scrutiny extended to the bench itself, with the FBI's 2023 investigation into judicial corruption—dubbed "Operation Palmetto Justice"—questioning retired 14th Circuit Judge Perry Buckner on December 13, 2023, over undisclosed perks from the Alex Murdaugh-linked PMPED law firm, including flights and vacations during his 2010s tenure. Coordinated with SLED, the probe has ensnared at least three magistrate judges in bribery schemes, echoing a 2021 ProPublica exposé on magistrates accepting kickbacks for favorable rulings in bond hearings and small claims. No charges against active federal district judges have emerged, but the inquiries have led to enhanced Judicial Conference ethics guidelines.

Clerks in the federal district have also drawn fire, with a 2024 internal audit uncovering misuse of court funds by a Columbia division deputy clerk, leading to the March 2025 resignation of John Harlan, 52, amid allegations of falsifying expense reports for $75,000 in unauthorized travel. Prosecuted under federal wire fraud statutes, Harlan's case—tried in the same court—highlights self-policing challenges, prompting the U.S. Courts Administrative Office to implement blockchain tracking for judicial disbursements in high-risk districts like South Carolina's. These developments, amid a 25% rise in public corruption filings since 2020, signal a federal push to fortify the district's integrity against entrenched state-level graft.