SC county treasurer, former county officials indicted in widening public corruption probe
A state grand jury Thursday indicted the treasurer of Williamsburg County and four former county officials on public corruption charges, adding to the string of recent indictments against officials in the rural PeeDee community.
The 10-count indictment, which names Treasurer Margaret Kimber W. Cooper, suspended Sheriff Stephen Renard Gardner, former Supervisor Tiffany Teonta Cooks, former Clerk of Court Sharon W. Staggers and former Chief of Administration Keonta Dewanda Moore, alleges the officials accepted payments above their approved salaries from February 2020 to December 2022, the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office said in a news release.
The payments, which totaled nearly $400,000, occurred while other county employees were furloughed, the release said.
Cooper, who was charged with misconduct in office, use of official position or office for financial gain and criminal conspiracy, is scheduled for a bond hearing Friday morning at the Richland County courthouse.
Gov. Henry McMaster suspended Cooper from office Friday and appointed Pearl R. Brown to serve as Williamsburg County treasurer in her absence.
Brown, a Williamsburg County resident who served as treasurer for 26 years before retiring in 2011, will serve until Cooper’s criminal case is resolved or until a new treasurer is elected, whichever occurs first.
This week’s state grand jury indictments come on the heels of multiple public corruption indictments handed down earlier this year against Gardner, Cooks and Staggers.
Gardner and Cooks were originally indicted in March for allegedly conspiring to improperly funnel public money to Gardner under the guise of checks written to a third party.
After his indictment, Gardner was suspended from office by Gov. Henry McMaster, who appointed Clemson Wright Jr. to serve as Williamsburg County sheriff until Gardner’s criminal case was resolved or a new sheriff was elected
Cooks, who had just been hired as Blythewood’s deputy administrator when the SLED investigation into her alleged misconduct became public, was hit with 16 additional charges in May for allegedly offering and giving thousands of dollars in improper government payments to herself and other Williamsburg County officials and employees for their purported participation in “community projects.”
Prosecutors allege the improper payments were doled out to Williamsburg County officials and employees “to induce them to perform acts and fail to perform acts in violation of their official duties.”
Staggers, the former Williamsburg County clerk of court, was indicted in August for allegedly embezzling more than $119,000 of public funds, the majority of which were meant to enhance child support services, according to the attorney general’s office.
The criminal cases against the current and former Williamsburg County officials were investigated by SLED and the South Carolina State Grand Jury, and will be prosecuted by Senior Assistant Deputy Attorney General Creighton Waters, Assistant Attorney General Savanna Goude and Assistant Attorney General Walt Whitmire.
This story was originally published October 17, 2025 at 10:38 AM.