North Charleston council members, others charged in money laundering, bribery schemes

Three elected North Charleston City Council members and five other people have been accused by federal authorities with being involved in a variety of bribery, kickback, extortion and money laundering schemes.

The charges follow a yearlong investigation by the FBI code-named “Southern Shake.” The investigation involved the use of confidential informants, one of whom secretly recorded one of the defendants, as well as authorized FBI wiretaps to intercept a defendant’s communications, according to an information document in the case.

The charges were announced Wednesday afternoon at a press conference in Mount Pleasant by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for South Carolina and the FBI.

Some of the charges have to do with the rezoning of a hospital site and others with a million-dollar-plus violence prevention grant program run by the North Charleston city government

“Public service should never be a job. It is a public trust. The allegations in this case describe a profound betrayal of that trust. These council members used their positions not to serve their community but to enrich themselves,” said acting U.S. Attorney Brook Andrews at the press conference.

The five non-elected defendants were described by Andrews as “associates” of the city council members charged in the case.

A tip led to the beginning of the investigation last February, Andrews told reporters.

Law enforcement officials did not say whether their investigation was continuing.

Two of the three North Charleston City Council members — Jerome Heyward, 61, and Sandino Moses, 50 — were charged by an information document and have agreed to plead guilty, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office press release.

The other North Charleston City Council member, Mike A. Brown, was indicted by a federal grand jury, the press release said. There are three people named Mike or Michael Brown on the North Charleston city council. Mike A. Brown represents District One and is the former co-owner of the Blue Note Bistro, a local lounge that no longer operates.

Donavan Moten, 46, founder of Core4Success Foundation, and Aaron Charles-Lee Hicks, 37, a North Charleston resident who owns a consulting business, have also agreed to plead guilty, the press release said.

A federal grand jury also indicted Hason Tatorian “Tory” Fields, a Goose Creek resident; Rose Emily Lorenzo, 65, of North Carolina; and Michelle Stent-Hilton, 56, of North Charleston.

Heyward, Moten, Hicks, and Moses are scheduled to plead guilty before U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel on Friday, Feb. 28, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

North Charleston, with 121,000 people, is the state’s third most populous city, after Charleston and Columbia. Its city council consists of a mayor and 10 council members elected from single-member districts for four-year terms.

Federal prosecutors on the case are Emily Limehouse and Whit Sowards.

People with information on this matter are asked to call the FBI tip line at 1-800-225-5324.

In addition to the FBI, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division was involved in the investigation.

Here is a summary of the charges against each defendant as described by the U.S. Attorney’s office and court records:

▪ Jerome Heyward, who owns a consulting business, is charged in three separate schemes with using his position as a North Charleston City Council member to personally enrich himself through bribes, kickbacks, and extortion. In one scheme, he solicited payments in exchange for official actions.

In the second scheme, Heyward conspired with Brown and Hicks to solicit and accept bribes from Aaron Hicks — working on behalf of a company with business before North Charleston City Council — in exchange for his support of the rezoning of a hospital site.

In a third scheme, Heyward conspired with Moten, Lorenzo, and Stent-Hilton to embezzle funds belonging to North Charleston by soliciting and accepting kickbacks from non-profit organizations run by Moten and Stent-Hilton that received violence reduction grant funds from the City.

Heyward is represented by longtime Charleston defense attorney Andy Savage.

▪ Mike A. Brown is charged with conspiring with Heyward and Hicks to commit bribery and honest services wire fraud. An indictment alleges that Brown, while serving as a North Charleston City Council member, solicited and accepted bribes from Hicks — who was working on behalf of a company requesting the rezoning of a hospital site — in exchange for his support of the rezoning application.

▪ Aaron Hicks is charged with a conspiracy to pay bribes to Brown and Heyward and a separate conspiracy with Fields to bribe Moses in exchange for their influence on North Charleston City Council and their support of the hospital site’s rezoning. Hicks has agreed to plead guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit bribery with respect to programs receiving federal funds and honest services wire fraud; bribery with respect to programs receiving federal funds, and honest services wire fraud.

Hicks is represented by Robert Brady Vannoy of Moncks Corner.

▪ Hason Tatorian “Tory” Fields, who owns a consulting and lobbying business, is charged with conspiracy to commit bribery with respect to programs receiving federal funds and honest services wire fraud, bribery with respect to programs receiving federal funds, and honest services wire fraud. An indictment alleges Fields conspired with Hicks to pay bribes to Moses. Afterwards, Fields paid Moses two bribes in an attempt to influence him in connection with his official action regarding the rezoning of the hospital site, the indictment alleges.

▪ Sandino Moses is charged with misprision of a felony. The Information alleges that Moses knew that Fields and others attempted to bribe him and paid him bribes but he failed to disclose that criminal conduct and instead took steps to conceal the bribes by returning the money to Fields. “Misprision of a felony” basically means someone knew about a federal crime but failed to tell authorities.

Moses is represented by State Rep. Leonidas “Leon” Stavrinakis, D-Charleston.

▪ Donavan Laval Moten has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery with respect to programs receiving federal funds and honest services wire fraud, theft with respect to programs receiving federal funds, bribery with respect to programs receiving federal funds, honest services wire fraud, and money laundering. His information document alleges that Moten conspired with Heyward and Lorenzo to kick back a portion of funds that Moten’s nonprofit received from North Charleston to Heyward, who at the time was on North Charleston’s City Council.

Moten’s attorney is Edward R. Corvey III of Charleston.

▪ Michelle Stent-Hilton, a personal assistant for Heyward, is charged with conspiracy to commit bribery with respect to programs receiving federal funds and honest services wire fraud, theft with respect to programs receiving federal funds, bribery with respect to programs receiving federal funds, honest services wire fraud, and money laundering.

An indictment in her case alleges Stent-Hilton, who is affiliated with a non-profit and served as Heyward’s personal assistant, promised to pay Heyward a portion of the money the non-profit received from the city of North Charleston.

At the time, Heyward was serving on North Charleston City Council and voted on the grant proposal to distribute funds to non-profits, including Stent-Hilton’s. The indictment further alleges that after receiving money from North Charleston, Stent-Hilton laundered Heyward’s kickback through Lorenzo.

▪ Rose Emily Lorenzo, who operates a business services firm, is charged with conspiracy to commit bribery with respect to programs receiving federal funds and honest services wire fraud, theft with respect to programs receiving federal funds, bribery with respect to programs receiving federal funds, honest services wire fraud, and money laundering.

An indictment alleges that Lorenzo conspired with Heyward and others to kick back to Heyward a portion of City of North Charleston grant funds that were awarded to non-profits affiliated with Moten and Stent-Hilton. The indictment further alleges that Lorenzo agreed to launder the funds by acting as an intermediary who received the funds from Moten and Stent-Hilton, and then wired them to Heyward for the purpose of concealing the true purpose of the transaction.

This is a breaking news story. It may be updated.

This story was originally published February 26, 2025 at 2:58 PM.