Prosecutors say state’s longest-serving sheriff allowed friends to buy favors
By Meg Kinnard
Associated Press
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina’s longest-serving sheriff pleaded not guilty to federal bribery charges on Tuesday, accused of lining his pockets by doing favors for friends.
Lexington County Sheriff James Metts, 68, was released on $100,000 bond after a brief hearing in federal court in Columbia. A judge also ordered him to surrender his passport and guns and not to leave South Carolina without court permission.
Metts faces 10 charges, which include allegations of taking bribes, committing wire fraud and participating in a conspiracy. Prosecutors say Metts allowed friends to buy favors, accepting cash in return for agreeing to assist people who were in the country illegally and who were being detained.
Indictments detail phone calls between Metts and a former Lexington Town councilman, who prosecutors say acted as a go-between for the owner of several Mexican restaurants. Metts accepted an envelope of cash in exchange for keeping some of the restaurants’ employees from ending up in federal databases of immigrants who weren’t supposed to be in the U.S., the indictment said.
In searches of offices at the sheriff’s department, court documents show agents have seized computers, appointment books, written notes, incident reports, an iPhone and a cassette tape in a recorder attached to a telephone in Metts’ office.
Metts’ lawyer Sherri Lydon, who has previously said her client is not guilty, on Tuesday asked for a lower bond, citing Metts’ ties to the community.
“Sheriff Metts has lived in the Columbia area his entire life,” Lydon said. “This is a man who is very entrenched in this community. He is not going anywhere.”
Metts said nothing to a group of reporters after the hearing, and his next court date has not been scheduled. Also Tuesday, Metts’ attorneys filed a request for some of the evidence against their client, including recordings of conversations with other people charged in the case.
Gov. Nikki Haley suspended Metts about an hour after the indictments were released and appointed Lewis McCarty, who retired in 1999 after nearly 30 years with the Lexington Department, as the acting sheriff.
Metts began his law enforcement career as a dispatcher with the West Columbia Police Department in 1967. In 1972, at the age of 25, he became the youngest sheriff ever elected in the nation, according to his online biography, and has served ever since in the heavily Republican county outside Columbia.
The University of South Carolina alum is also a graduate of the FBI National Academy, the National Sheriff’s Institute and the National Corrections Academy. He was named South Carolina’s sheriff of the year in 1982.
In 1998, Metts pondered a GOP primary challenge to then-Gov. David Beasley — whom he had helped get elected four years earlier — and even mulled running as an independent before ultimately supporting the incumbent.
Metts is the eighth South Carolina sheriff to be charged or investigated in about four years and at least the fourth accused of taking kickbacks.
It had been well over a decade since a sitting South Carolina sheriff had been indicted when Lee County Sheriff E.J. Melvin was charged with dozens of federal drug and racketeering charges in May 2010. Since then, four more sheriffs have faced state misdemeanor charges, three of them accused of misusing state inmate labor. Saluda County Sheriff Jason Booth and Abbeville County Sheriff Charles Goodwin pleaded guilty, but avoided jail time.
Sheriff Sam Parker of Chesterfield County was found guilty earlier this year of giving away guns from his department without filing proper paperwork and allowing untrained people to act as deputies. Williamsburg County Sheriff Michael Johnson faces federal kickback charges, accused of creating fake police reports saying people had their identities stolen for a friend who ran a credit-repair business.
Charleston County Sheriff Al Cannon was charged with third-degree assault and battery after admitting he slapped a handcuffed man in the face after the man had led his deputies on a 120-mph chase in January 2012. The misdemeanor charge was eligible for pre-trial intervention, and Cannon remains in office.
Officials in Orangeburg County sued the estate of the late Sheriff Larry Williams, saying he took more than $200,000 in public money and used it on personal expenses. Williams died before the case could be prosecuted.
A look at South Carolina sheriffs behaving badly
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The longest-serving sheriff in South Carolina, Lexington County Sheriff James Metts, has pleaded not guilty to federal bribery and fraud charges. But sheriffs charged under the laws they are supposed to uphold is nothing unusual in South Carolina these days. Metts is the eighth in four years to run into legal problems.
Prosecutors say Metts allowed friends to buy favors, accepting cash in return for agreeing to assist people who were in the country illegally and who were being detained.
The sheriff’s office is typically an important seat of power in South Carolina, where strict incorporation laws mean 65 percent of the state’s residents don’t live in cities or towns. Sheriffs often control jails, can hire and fire anyone and have tight control over finances — in Oconee County, the sheriff’s office gets nearly 15 percent of the $43 million budget for the county of about 74,000 people. They also choose what their deputies concentrate on, meaning drugs may be a focus in one county while it’s traffic control in another.
A look at the lineup of those who have run into legal trouble:
E.J. MELVIN, LEE COUNTY
Melvin is serving 17 years in prison after his November 2010 conviction on more than three dozen drug conspiracy charges. Prosecutors said he ruled Lee County like a kingpin, soliciting bribes from drug dealers and extorting businessmen. One witness told an FBI agent that a longtime drug dealer had told him, “If it wasn’t for E.J., I wouldn’t be doing the things that I do.”
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MICHAEL JOHNSON, WILLIAMSBURG COUNTY
Johnson faces federal kickback charges after he was accused of creating fake police reports saying people had their identities stolen for a friend who ran a credit-repair business. The fake reports kept more than $11 million in bad debts off more than 130 credit reports from March 2012 until August 2013, prosecutors said.
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SAM PARKER, CHESTERFIELD COUNTY
Parker was convicted earlier this year of giving away guns from his department without the proper paperwork and allowing untrained people to act as deputies. Prosecutors said Parker gave away confiscated weapons, including an M-14 semi-automatic rifle, to friends who were not deputies.
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AL CANNON, CHARLESTON COUNTY
Cannon was charged with third-degree assault and battery after admitting he slapped a handcuffed man in the face after the man led deputies on a 120-mph chase in January 2012. Charged with a misdemeanor, Cannon was eligible for pre-trial intervention and remains in office.
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JASON BOOTH, SALUDA COUNTY, AND CHARLES GOODWIN, ABBEVILLE COUNTY
Both Booth and Goodwin pleaded guilty to misusing state inmate labor. Both avoided jail time.
Prosecutors said Booth allowed an inmate to live in a trailer outside of prison and have conjugal visits with his girlfriend in exchange for building a party shed, ornate gate and other projects at the sheriff’s home.
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LARRY WILLIAMS, ORANGEBURG COUNTY
Orangeburg County officials sued the estate of the late Williams, saying he took more than $200,000 in public money for personal use. Williams died before the case could be prosecuted. The lawsuit says Williams used the money for personal expenses, including paying off a $60,000 loan on an RV.
