Uncovered: SC sheriff promised reforms, then abused his power for years | News

The lieutenant’s directions have been all the time the identical: Drop all the pieces. We’ve acquired to go to the sheriff’s place.

Deputies on the Chester County Sheriff’s Workplace knew what that meant. For weeks at a time, they have been repeatedly known as away from their skilled duties for “work days” on the private property of Sheriff Alex “Massive A” Underwood.

On the sheriff’s 11-acre tract in piney Chester, deputies in plain garments minimize firewood and hauled rocks from a stream. They landscaped and graded the land round a pond. They devoted dozens of hours to renovating an outdated horse secure right into a “occasion barn” — decked out with wired lighting, a stage, sound system and fully-stocked bar.

“MAN CAVE,” an indication beside the bar learn.

These “work days” — unwittingly funded by taxpayers — have been simply one of many some ways Underwood leveraged his highly effective place to learn himself, a sample of conduct that will finally be a magnet for federal investigators and play out in a high-stakes prison trial. The image that emerged from testimony was that of a rogue lawman who bent the system to his will.

Throughout Underwood’s seven-year reign as Chester County’s prime cop, he ordered deputies to spy on and ticket his political opponents. He and prime deputies collected paychecks for work they didn’t carry out at a DUI checkpoint, skimming cash from their very own staff who did the work.

And when Underwood siphoned public cash to fund first-class journey for himself and his spouse, an worker was ordered to white out and falsify particulars of the spending so the county treasurer wouldn’t catch on.

Underwood and his supporters defended his conduct, describing the sheriff as a superb boss and devoted public servant whose worst offenses have been nothing greater than minor coverage infractions.

Federal prosecutors noticed it one other means. His conduct, a lot of which was first uncovered by The Put up and Courier in a string of 2019 investigative tales, prompted federal indictments alleging public corruption, abuse of energy and obstruction.

On April 23, a jury of 12 deliberated lower than 10 hours earlier than returning a powerful verdict: Underwood — together with two of his prime deputies — have been responsible of breaking the identical legal guidelines that, as profession regulation enforcement officers, they swore to uphold.

Underwood and former deputies Johnny Neal and Robert Sprouse, who will every be sentenced this summer season, have been convicted on a mixed 23 counts. The costs on which they have been convicted carry sentences of three a long time or extra if stacked collectively, however prosecutors anticipate every man to face not more than 20 years behind bars.

Underwood is simply the newest instance of South Carolina’s disturbing pattern of crooked sheriffs. Over the previous 11 years, 14 sheriffs among the many state’s 46 counties have been charged with crimes — a couple of in 4. Underwood is the thirteenth to be convicted.

His downfall comes amid The Put up and Courier’s “Uncovered” mission. The newspaper is partnering with 16 native information retailers to reveal how public officers throughout South Carolina abuse their energy after they assume nobody is watching.

Underwood’s nine-day federal trial supplied a uncommon window into how that type of corruption manifests when officers wield near-absolute energy, and the way staff and taxpayers fall sufferer alongside the best way.

In instance after instance, deputies testified about being caught within the center. They have been sure by state regulation that requires them to “serve on the pleasure” of the sheriff. Even going through a corrupt agenda, they felt stress to go alongside.

Requested later why they listened to their boss, they mentioned that they had no alternative.

“You weren’t allowed to have private emotions about what you have been directed to do,” testified Brad Bowers, a former narcotics lieutenant. “You simply did what you have been advised, otherwise you knew you didn’t have a job.”

Above the regulationUnderwood broke boundaries together with his election as Chester County’s first Black sheriff in 2012, promising to deliver professionalism to the sheriff’s workplace and put an finish to the “good ol’ boys” system.

However in the long run, he proved to be extra of the identical. It’s simply the newest chapter in South Carolina’s legacy of sheriffs intoxicated with the would possibly of their positions, wielding immense powers with little oversight.

South Carolina’s sheriffs have bullied staff and handled themselves to lavish perks on the general public dime. They’ve ordered deputies to surveil and harass political opponents and stolen taxpayer {dollars}. They’ve been accused of sexual misconduct and mendacity to cowl up their wrongdoing.

The circumstances, detailed in The Put up and Courier’s 2019 investigation Above the Regulation, date again so far as Darlington Sheriff Grover Bryant’s arrest throughout a federal moonshine sting in 1964. However the lawlessness picked up once more in recent times.

Prior to now 16 months, sheriffs in Colleton, Florence and Chester counties have been convicted of crimes starting from corruption, to theft, to home violence. One other sheriff, David Taylor of Union, was indicted final yr on fees of misconduct in workplace and disseminating obscene materials. These fees are nonetheless pending.

Like these sheriffs, Underwood and his prime deputies made a essential mistake, prosecutors argued: They thought the principles — the regulation — didn’t apply to them.

Underwood’s personal attorneys a minimum of partly agreed. They posited that as sheriff, Underwood may spend public cash nevertheless he wished.

Ordering deputies to watch, cite and arrest the sheriff’s political opponents was OK so long as these folks have been responsible of the wrongdoing that Underwood had suspected.

Constructing the occasion barn was nothing greater than a team-building train, they advised, for the reason that sheriff hosted annual Christmas events there. Moreover, it wasn’t as good as prosecutors advised, Underwood legal professional Stanley Myers mentioned.

“It’s a barn,” Underwood legal professional Stanley Myers advised the jury. “They wish to make it sound as if it’s the Taj Mahal.”

‘A private problem’However testimony from Underwood’s former deputies laid naked the myriad methods they have been anticipated to do his bidding.

Like when deputies helped tear the partitions out of Underwood’s outdated secure. That was the piece of the sheriff’s property he had transformed into a celebration barn.

Bowers, a former narcotics lieutenant, and half a dozen different deputies testified they spent as many as 40 hours — throughout work days — finishing that and different tasks at Underwood’s house. Neal, the lieutenant, instructed deputies to report the hours on their authorities timecards, Bowers mentioned.

Then there was the day Bowers spent in Fairfield County — nicely outdoors the Chester sheriff’s jurisdiction. There, he was ordered to tail the brother-in-law of Richard Smith, Chester’s former sheriff with whom Underwood had quarreled.

Bowers adopted the person for half-hour in an unmarked automotive, tailing him from a Fairfield boat touchdown to his house in Chester. Different brokers have been positioned alongside the route, waiting for any wrongdoing.

Underwood’s division didn’t alert Fairfield authorities to its investigation, though that was customary. Underwood mentioned he suspected the person was driving drunk. Bowers had different suspicions.

“It was a private problem,” Bowers testified at trial.

In one other Could 2015 incident, orders got here down for a group of deputies to spy on a bunch of Chester officers whereas they dined at a breakfast spot in Richburg, a small city simply east of Chester. The phrase was that Underwood counted all of them amongst his political opponents.

The following month, Underwood instructed Deputy Matt Faile to tail state Sen. Creighton Coleman and pull him over for rushing. Underwood didn’t give a purpose. However Coleman and Underwood didn’t get alongside. So, Faile stopped the senator and ticketed him.

On the time, Angel Underwood — the sheriff’s spouse and Chester’s chief Justice of the Peace — was beneath investigation for failing to disqualify herself when dealing with the sheriff’s circumstances in courtroom. In the meantime, Coleman expressed considerations about reappointing her.

Angel Underwood confronted a suspension, however was later reinstated by the South Carolina Supreme Court docket. She stays the county’s chief Justice of the Peace. Coleman misplaced reelection in 2016, and Faile ultimately dismissed the ticket.

Within the earlier incident, on the breakfast diner, deputies saved tabs on a former county supervisor, an area fireplace chief, a Chester faculties superintendent and the county coroner. Underwood’s division referred to them as “The Breakfast Membership.”

John Hunter, then a narcotics deputy for Underwood, watched the group from an unmarked automotive that Underwood’s division had seized. The deputy used a division long-lens digicam to {photograph} every of the group’s automobile tags. One other deputy, undercover, sat at a sales space contained in the diner and eavesdropped.

“Have been you conscious of any regulation enforcement objective?” Rebecca Schuman, a federal prosecutor, requested Hunter at trial.

“No, ma’am,” he responded.

Hunter turned in his images and a few notes to Sprouse, Underwood’s chief deputy. However not like different investigations, Hunter wrote no report. “I used to be advised it was off the file,” he mentioned.

‘An oversight’It wasn’t the final time Sprouse sought to obscure Underwood’s conduct on the sheriff’s behalf.

In 2017, Underwood and Sprouse attended a regulation enforcement convention in Reno, Nevada. The pair introduced their wives, and Underwood booked first-class tickets to get there — spending greater than $5,600 from a authorities account.

On the time, Sprouse approached Hope Bradley, an administrative assistant. She testified that Sprouse requested her to disguise the truth that he and Underwood’s wives attended the journey. The county was unlikely to approve that spending, because it broke coverage.

Bradley whited out their names on journey paperwork, and within the buy order despatched to the county treasurer, Underwood’s division falsely wrote that two deputies attended the journey with Underwood and Sprouse.

Two years later, The Put up and Courier obtained information displaying that Underwood and Sprouse’s wives had truly accompanied them.

The day after the newspaper reached out to Underwood, Sprouse walked into the treasurer’s workplace with checks reimbursing the county for the journey. Sprouse advised the matter had merely slipped the sheriff’s thoughts, describing it as “an oversight.”

Bradley noticed it one other means. “He knew he didn’t pay it,” she testified. “I do know he knew they didn’t pay it.”

When requested on the time why he flew firstclass, Underwood advised the newspaper he’s “a really giant man with prior knee surgical procedures and ongoing medical points.” He charged taxpayers to improve to a king-sized mattress so his toes wouldn’t hold off the mattress, he mentioned.

Underwood is 6 toes, 4 inches.

The Put up and Courier additionally first reported in 2019 that he had ordered deputies to renovate his barn. He strongly disputed this on the time, telling the newspaper, “Why would I name off an ongoing investigation when I’m the sheriff and chargeable for public security?” he mentioned.

“Ridiculous query,” he added.

A manhuntUnderwood’s conduct throughout a November 2018 incident can be known as into query for a unique purpose — for what prosecutors alleged was Underwood retaliating in opposition to a resident for merely having the “audacity” to query him.

A wreck at a DUI checkpoint prompted a big response from Underwood’s division, together with a helicopter that airlifted a badly injured sufferer and a manhunt for a driver who had fled the scene.

About 100 yards away, 26-year-old Kevin Simpson live-streamed the incident on Fb. After Underwood requested the person to step again onto his porch, Simpson shouted out, “Now manhunt!”

Underwood, carrying a flashlight, reversed course. “You bought one thing to say?” He grabbed Simpson, who tossed his telephone beneath the home. Neal joined his boss, taking Simpson into custody and inserting him beneath arrest.

Simpson cursed whereas Neal led him to a division automobile. That’s when the deputy shoved the handcuffed man.

Allen Culp, a former native fireplace chief who noticed the incident, testified Simpson hit the bottom “like a sack of taters,” and misplaced his shoe.

The Put up and Courier printed the video in January 2019. When FBI agent Julie Yelk known as Underwood’s division to ask in regards to the incident, Yelk realized no report had been written, though Simpson and his mom spent a number of days in jail.

Sprouse ultimately agreed to talk with Yelk, and produced a report.

Yelk reviewed the timestamp: It was written two months after the incident, and an hour after she known as the division.

‘They lined up’For prosecutors, the Simpson arrest was emblematic of how Underwood and his prime deputies ran their workplace, doing what they wished to whoever they wished.

“They bullied,” Schuman mentioned. “They lied. They lined up. And so they lied some extra.”

Over the nine-day trial, jurors — six of them White, six Black — needed to weigh competing portrayals of Underwood.

The prosecution portrayed the sheriff as a bully who felt entitled to taxpayer funds and allowed his ego to override his obligation to guard and serve.

The jury by no means heard from Underwood or his prime deputies, who selected to not testify. In reality, the protection solely known as two witnesses, insisting that prosecutors had did not make their case.

Underwood’s attorneys, tearfully at occasions, insisted the sheriff was a good man and devoted servant who solely wished the perfect for his hometown. They chalked the case as much as one other abuse of energy — overzealous prosecutors who wished to nail a regulation enforcement officer over minor infractions.

On the tenth day, after deliberating for greater than 9 hours, the jury returned to the courtroom. Underwood seemed towards them. They principally averted their eyes.

Underwood’s spouse, Angel, sat two rows behind him, wringing her palms.

The courtroom settled into silence. A clerk for U.S. Decide Michelle Childs started studying the verdicts, beginning with the previous sheriff. “Responsible.”