CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, S.C. — Eyewitness News was in Columbia on Friday as indicted Chesterfield County Sheriff Sam Parker faced a judge for the first time.
Parker was in court to be arraigned on two felony counts of providing contraband to prison inmates and four misdemeanor counts of misconduct in office.
Amid those charges, Gov. Nikki Haley suspended Parker from his job, though he told Channel 9 he would not resign.
Parker's attorney Johnny Gasser denied the allegations in court, calling his client a man with an impeccable reputation.
"We are adamant that Sam Parker never knowingly and willfully committed a crime," Gasser told Channel 9.
On Wednesday, the attorney general's office released a 19-page indictment against Parker, following a South Carolina Law Enforcement Division investigation that lasted more than a month.
On Friday in court, prosecutors listed several accusations found in the indictment. First, prosecutors said Parker allowed two inmates, Michael Lee and William Skipper, to live without supervision for several years. They were allegedly taking shopping trips, driving county vehicles, visiting family, leaving the state, had access to guns, drugs, alcohol, and women, eating at the sheriff's home and even vacationing with his family.
In exchange for these freedoms, the indictment claims that Lee and Skipper used their skills in engineering and HVAC repair to refurbish the county armory used by the sheriff. They prepared meals for the sheriff and his family, did work at his home and helped his family decorate and cook for private parties, the indictment said.
All this while Skipper was serving seven years in prison for drug trafficking and Lee was serving 15 years for arson.
On Friday, for the first time, Channel 9 heard new accusations not listed in the indictment. Prosecutors said Lee and Skipper also took part in a Halloween haunted trail where they dressed as ghosts to scare children and gave out candy. This happened allegedly when the two men were supposed to only be released from the county prison for specific work projects. Prosecutors also claimed the two inmates were given the sheriff's own guns and allowed to fire them.
A second allegation in the indictment accuses Parker of buying property with public money and using it for himself. The indictment said Parker bought an ATV, trailer, truck and boat with county taxpayer funds, then kept them at his home, even converting the boat into a shrimp boat that he took to the coast with friends.
In court Friday, Gasser claimed that Parker kept those items at his home only because there was no other place to store them, and he did not charge the county for the storage.
Parker was also indicted on charges of hiring reserve deputies who never received proper training, and were not recognized by the state law enforcement academy. These reserve officers wore uniforms, badges and patrolled the county without proper authority, the indictment said.
Lastly, Parker is accused of giving at least six guns to friends, either as payment for favors, or for their personal use. Those firearms were the property of the county, some seized during investigations, others purchased by the Sheriff's Office.
Gasser said the sheriff has no knowledge of any illegal activity, and if anything illegal happened, it went on behind his back.
Prosecutors said Parker ignored the law, ignored the rules and did what he wanted to do for 10 years as sheriff.
"He continued on down that path despite being repeatedly warned that what he was doing was illegal," said Heather Weiss, assistant deputy attorney general.
Judge Casey Manning set Parker's personal recognizance bond at $150,000. Prosecutors asked that he be required to stay away from the Sheriff's Office and all Sheriff's Office employees. The defense asked that he be able to keep at least one gun at home for protection. Gasser raised concerns that with all the people he'd put in jail, he needed to be able to protect himself.
Parker did not speak to reporters after the hearing, but quietly left the courtroom with his lawyer. He posted bond by Friday afternoon.
A court date was not set.
WSOC
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