A South Carolina sheriff faces decades in prison after he was caught blowing thousands in taxpayer funds on cigarettes, fast food, internet games and pain pills.
Former Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright, 60, admitted Thursday to using a county-provided credit card to fund a depressing years-long spending spree, KCRG reported.
That included buying nearly 100 packs of cigarettes at Dollar General, and $1,300 in app store cellphone games like “Ramp Car Jumping,” “Huntwise” and “Royal Match.”
He also blew $5,000 at restaurants like Fuddruckers and Chik-fil-A, along with purchases at Best Buy, CVS Pharmacy and Sirius XM radio.
In total, Wright spent more than $50,000 in taxpayer funds on frivolous personal expenses between 2017 and 2024, the Post and Courier reported.
But worst of all, Wright and a man he hired — Lawson B. Watson, 63 — worked together to steal at least $80,000 from the sheriff’s office Benevolence Fund, which was intended to support the county’s police officers.
He also used blank checks from the Benevolence Fund to pay a drug dealer for painkillers — and even kept and consumed about 150 pills given to police as part of a medication disposal program.
“Fighting corruption is what we should do in law enforcement,” said US Attorney for the District of South Carolina Bryan Stirling outside court after Wright pleaded guilty.
“Nothing makes a law enforcement officer madder than seeing police cross the line,” he added.
Wright said there were no excuses for his abuses of power.
“I squandered that dream job through my actions and for that I simply ask that the people of Spartanburg and my brothers and sisters in law enforcement forgive me,” the ex-sheriff said in court.
He pleaded guilty to numerous federal corruption and wire fraud charges, and faces upwards of 20 years in federal prison.
Wright could also owe hundreds of thousands of dollars in restitution.
With Post wires
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