SC mayor indicted on two counts after alleged misuse of taxpayer money
Prosecutors have indicted a South Carolina mayor accused by members of his own town council of misusing public funds.
Swansea Mayor Jerald Sanders is accused of embezzlement and misconduct in office in an indictment that came down Monday from a Lexington County grand jury, the S.C. Attorney General’s Office announced in a press release.
Prosecutors allege Sanders had checks written to him from public funds without authorization around December 2019. The money was then deposited in an account under his sole control, the indictment alleges. Under S.C. law, Sanders could face up to five years in prison for embezzlement, plus a fine commensurate to the amount allegedly taken.
In a statement Monday, Sanders attorneys Alex Postic and Carl Solomon said, “We categorically deny any wrongdoing.”
An investigation by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division began more than a year ago, when Swansea Town Councilwoman Doris Simmons reported Sanders to police for alleged embezzlement from the town.
Council members questioned a payout from the town’s general fund during a May 2020 budget meeting. Sanders told his colleagues many townspeople had meant to donate money to his non-profit, the Halo Community Foundation, during the previous year’s Christmas parade, but had mistakenly written out checks to the town of Swansea instead, according to two council members present for the meeting.
A police incident report says the amount transferred was $4,500.
The attorney general’s release notes Attorney General Alan Wilson has sent the indictment to Gov. Henry McMaster, who has the power to remove public officials accused of misconduct. There was no immediate word from the governor’s office Monday afternoon on whether Sanders would be suspended from office.
