Former Midlands police chief charged with sex crimes, Lexington County deputies say
A man identified as the former police chief of a small Midlands town was arrested on sex crime charges, the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department said.
William “Billy” Parker was charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct and third-degree attempted criminal sexual conduct, sheriff’s department spokesman Capt. Adam Myrick told The State Tuesday.
The 65-year-old Parker served as the Pine Ridge police chief from 2011-2017.
Pine Ridge is a small Lexington County town near the junction of Interstate 77 and Interstate 26.
Parker was arrested Friday night and taken to the Lexington County Detention Center, Myrick said. Parker was released after meeting the conditions of his bond, according to Myrick.
South Carolina law says a person is guilty of third-degree criminal sexual conduct if they engage in sexual battery with a victim.
A person could also be convicted if they use force or coercion to accomplish the sexual battery in the absence of aggravating circumstances.
A conviction on the charge is also possible if the person knows or has reason to know that the victim is mentally defective, mentally incapacitated, or physically helpless and aggravated force or aggravated coercion was not used to accomplish sexual battery.
If convicted on the felony criminal sexual conduct charge, Parker faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, according to South Carolina law.
Specific details about why Parker was charged with these crimes was not available.
Parker left the Pine Ridge Police Department under unusual circumstances.
Parker was recovering from a work-related injury when the town’s Public Safety Committee said it was “separating” with him, the Lexington Ledger reported. Information on why Parker left was not available.
There was no word on how Parker got hurt, or the extent of his injury.
At the same time Parker was dismissed, his interim chief was demoted to patrolman, and the only other officer was fired, according to the Ledger.
It was part of a saga of turmoil with the Pine Ridge Police Department, as four police chiefs resigned in a three-year span.
Pine Ridge recently went six months without a functioning police department. From October 2020 through April 2021, the town had no chief or officers following resignations from officers who said then-Mayor Robert Wells micromanaged the department.
In a 2020 interview with The State, Parker described Wells, who previously served on the public safety committee as a town council member, as a “wannabe policeman” who would do ride-alongs with officers on the beat.
While Wells was still the mayor, Parker said, “Anybody in their right mind would not work there. They’ve seen it’s short-term. If you leave a department for that job and then get fired or resign, you’ll be lucky to get another job.”
When he resigned in March 2021, Wells said “a lot of things that were blown out of proportion.”
“I stand behind everything we’ve done. Any agency can come check that what we did was legal and proper,” Wells said.
About a month after Wells resigned, Andre’ Williams was sworn in as Pine Ridge’s police chief at a meeting of the town council.
Prior to Williams, another recent Pine Ridge police chief resigned after he was investigated for coaching basketball on at least six days when he was supposed to be at work.
Keith Parks was investigated by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, which concluded he was likely coaching a school basketball team when records indicated he was on duty at Pine Ridge. SLED determined that Pine Ridge paid Parks nearly $500 for time he spent coaching basketball.
Parks faced no criminal charges following SLED’s investigation, but he resigned during the investigation in April 2020.
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This story was originally published February 22, 2022 at 1:20 PM.
