Wednesday, May 11, 2005
COLLETON COUNTY SHERIFF TO BE INVESTIGATED
To date, no specific evidence of misconduct has been discovered. However, County Council Chairman Steven Murdaugh and Sheriff George Malone last week requested a probe into how the money was spent.
According to the Post and Courier, “a letter sent to Attorney General Henry McMaster asks that he look into ‘numerous and wide-ranging speculations concerning possible financial improprieties’ between Jan. 1, 2000, and Dec. 31, 2004, when Beach was in office.”
This may well be much “ado about nothing.” But, it does raise some interesting points. It makes us wonder why no one has audited the Sheriffs of Charleston and Dorchester County and the Family Courts to determine how they are spending the “Civil Contempt Fines” and the “Prisoner Recreation Funds.” It might also be interesting for Sheriff Nash to explain how he selects the organizations and groups who will benefit from the “voluntary inmate labor” and why he does not apply some of the Prisoner Recreation Fund to helping these “volunteers” pay their fines and arrearages so they can get out of jail.
The Post and Courier reports that the South Carolina Attorney General's Office is asking the State Law Enforcement Division to investigate whether former Colleton County Sheriff Allan Beach improperly spent any of the millions of dollars in federal drug seizure funds he received during his four years in office.
To date, no specific evidence of misconduct has been discovered. However, County Council Chairman Steven Murdaugh and Sheriff George Malone last week requested a probe into how the money was spent.
According to the Post and Courier, “a letter sent to Attorney General Henry McMaster asks that he look into ‘numerous and wide-ranging speculations concerning possible financial improprieties’ between Jan. 1, 2000, and Dec. 31, 2004, when Beach was in office.”
This may well be much “ado about nothing.” But, it does raise some interesting points. It makes us wonder why no one has audited the Sheriffs of Charleston and Dorchester County and the Family Courts to determine how they are spending the “Civil Contempt Fines” and the “Prisoner Recreation Funds.” It might also be interesting for Sheriff Nash to explain how he selects the organizations and groups who will benefit from the “voluntary inmate labor” and why he does not apply some of the Prisoner Recreation Fund to helping these “volunteers” pay their fines and arrearages so they can get out of jail.
