Gov. McMaster suspends South Carolina town councilman charged with sex crimes
A former school administrator who has been charged with sex crimes against minors has lost another job, courtesy of South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster.
The governor issued an executive order Monday suspending John Anthony Heflin from his position on the Bethune Town Council.
“Heflin is suspended until he is formally acquitted, convicted, or a successor is elected and qualifies as provided by law, whichever event occurs first,” the Governor’s Office said in a news release.
The 54-year-old Heflin was recently charged with disseminating harmful material or exhibiting a harmful performance to a minor, second degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor under 16 years old, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and criminal sexual conduct with a minor in the third degree, according to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.
Prior to those July 29 charges, the former dean at Camden Military Academy was charged with criminal solicitation of a minor in September 2024, SLED said.
According to the most recent charges, in 2014 Heflin provided a minor with pornographic material for the purpose of masturbating with the juvenile, based on information from the victim who is now an adult. At the time of the incident, Heflin was a teacher at Camden Military Academy and the juvenile was a student.
Heflin is no longer employed by Camden Military Academy. Information about when he left the school, and the terms of his departure, were not available.
Camden Military Academy, founded in 1958, is a military-style boarding school in Kershaw County. The school serves male students between grades 7 to 12, according to information on its website.
Earlier this year, a lawsuit against Heflin and other top officials at the academy was filed in federal court, alleging the school “maintained a culture of willing indifference and reckless disregard by failing to monitor Defendant Heflin and by consciously allowing and permitting students to stay overnight at his private residence.”
Heflin was also a defendant in a 2017 lawsuit in federal court against him, Camden Military Academy and two other top military academy officials that alleged Heflin preyed on a 14-year-old boy at the school, sending him hundreds of text messages and transporting the boy to his home.
In responses to that lawsuit, Camden Military Academy officials denied the allegations and said they were groundless.
That lawsuit was settled in November 2018, according to an order signed by Judge Mary Lewis. The settlement terms were not disclosed.
Staff reporters Javon Harris and John Monk contributed to this story.
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