Trump names ex-Secret Service agent as state’s new U.S. marshal

A 21-year Secret Service veteran with strong Midlands law enforcement ties has been named as the new U.S. marshal for South Carolina.

Thomas Griffin, 56, a Greenville native and 1985 University of South Carolina graduate, was sworn into office by U.S. District Judge Terry Wooten.

As a/ U.S. marshal, Griffin will head up a team of deputy marshals across South Carolina. Marshals provide federal courthouse security, protect federal judges, hunt fugitives, transport prisoners and protect witnesses and relocate them with new identities if needed.

Griffin worked in the Richland County Sheriff’s Department for a decade as a deputy and detective before joining the Secret Service. His duties with the Secret Service included presidential protection at the White House. Griffin was named resident agent in charge of the Secret Service in Greenville in 2010.

Griffin was nominated for the marshal’s position by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, where he was supported by South Carolina’s two Republican U.S. senators, Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott, and Gov. Henry McMaster.

“I truly look forward to serving the state of South Carolina,” Griffin said in a news release.

Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott, who supervised Griffin in the department’s narcotics unit, said, “He is one of the best cops I have had the pleasure of working with. You can tell when someone has what it takes to be a successful cop.”

Trump has yet to nominate a U.S. attorney for South Carolina.

Griffin succeeds Kelvin Washington, an appointee of then-President Barack Obama, as marshal.

This story was originally published March 8, 2018 at 10:19 AM with the headline "Trump names ex-Secret Service agent as state’s new U.S. marshal."