South Carolina sheriff used public money for sex, police say. Now he’s going to prison
A judge sentenced Greenville County Sheriff Will Lewis on Friday to a year in prison after a jury found him guilty of misconduct of a public officer, according to multiple reports.
Prosecutors accused the sheriff of abusing his office and using public money to pursue his assistant for an affair, WSPA reports. Jurors delivered the guilty verdict at 10:30 p.m. Thursday, also finding him not guilty on one count of misconduct in office, the TV station reports.
The conviction means the sheriff will be automatically removed from office. He was sentenced to the maximum allowed by state law.
Prosecutors accused the sheriff of hiring an assistant in order to pursue an extramarital affair with her, Fox Carolina reports. Lewis reportedly paid his assistant a “hefty salary” and gave her special perks, including a new county car.
McClatchy new group is not naming the woman because she said she is a victim of sexual assault.
Lewis hired the woman, who was 22 at the time, at a $62,000 salary after he was elected in 2016, WYFF reports. He told jurors he regretted cheating on his wife but did not break any laws.
Prosecutors argued otherwise.
“You can’t do that. You can’t use public money to try to have sex with an employee,” Solicitor Kevin Brackett said during closing arguments, according to Fox Carolina. “Everybody seems to understand it, except Will.”
The woman sued the sheriff and Greenville County in 2017, accusing the sheriff of drugging and raping her during a trip to Charlotte, the Greenville News reports. She dropped the lawsuit after agreeing to a settlement of almost $200,000, about half of which came from the county, the newspaper reports.
The sheriff has been suspended since he was charged in the corruption scandal in April 2018, according to the newspaper.
Lewis denied charges that he sexually assaulted the woman, calling the affair “consensual,” the newspaper said.
The woman testified during the second day of the four-day trial, telling jurors she woke up in a Charlotte hotel room to Lewis sexually assaulting her, the Greenville News reports.
“The real interesting thing in all this, whether (the sexual encounter) was consensual or not, it really doesn’t matter,” the solicitor said during the trial, according to Fox Carolina. The trial, he said, was about using public money for personal gain.
This story was originally published October 25, 2019 at 11:01 AM.
