By Jeffrey Collins
Associated Press
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A former sheriff in South Carolina agreed to plead guilty Thursday to stealing money from the force’s benevolence fund and taking pain pills that were supposed to be destroyed as part of a narcotics take-back program.
Former Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright took money one time from the fund set aside for deputies facing financial difficulties by saying he was paying for expenses to send an officer to Washington to honor a deputy killed in the line of duty but instead put the cash in his own pocket, according to court records.
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In addition to the painkillers he took from the take-back program, Wright also got a blank check from the benevolence fund and used it to pay for oxycodone and hydrocodone pills, writing it out his dealer, prosecutors said.
Two other former sheriff’s office employees were charged and agreed to plead guilty Thursday.
Former sheriff’s office chaplain Amos Durham helped Wright take more than $28,000 out of the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office Chaplain’s Benevolence Fund, prosecutors said.
Lawson Watson was hired by Wright as a deputy and paid more than $200,000 over four years for work he never did, investigators said. There were no records from the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy that Watson took the classes to become a certified officer.
Watson’s attorney, Beattie Ashmore, said Watson cooperated fully and looks forward to resolving the case. Lawyers for Wright and Durham did not respond to emails seeking comment Thursday evening.
Wright was a sheriff with a large presence in the county of about 370,000 people for more than 20 years before resigning earlier this year.
His career began to unravel after a newspaper obtained his county-owned credit card records and found he spent more than $53,000 over less than seven years on Apple purchases, steakhouses, high-end hotels, streaming video services, Amazon Prime subscriptions and a keto diet program, according to the Post and Courier.
Flight logs obtained by the newspaper suggested Wright, who is a pilot, used the sheriff’s office helicopter for flights that had no law enforcement purpose, and Wright faced an ethics investigation for hiring his own son as a deputy.
The stories led to state and federal investigations.
Wright agreed to plead guilty in federal court to conspiracy to commit theft concerning programs receiving federal funds, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and obtaining controlled substances through misrepresentation.
The maximum penalty for all three counts combined is nearly 30 years, although Wright will likely receive a much lighter sentence. He also will have to pay at least $440,000 in restitution. A sentencing date has not been set.
Wright is at least the 15th sheriff in South Carolina’s 46 counties to face charges in the past 25 years.
