SWANSEA, S.C. — Swansea Mayor Jerald Sanders has been indicted by a state grand jury, accused of taking public money and transferring to an account that he managed.
The South Carolina Attorney General's Office announced Monday that a Lexington County Grand Jury indicted Sanders on charges of embezzlement of public funds less than $10,000 and misconduct in office.
The incident happened back in December of 2019. According to the indictment, Sanders wrongly accepted funds from the town and put the money into an account under his sole control.
Shortly after the indictment came down, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster suspended Sanders from office until the charges are dismissed or Sanders is convicted. In his order, McMaster said the Mayor Pro Tempore of Swansea will serve as mayor. According to the town's website, Woodrow Davis is the Mayor Pro Tem.
Earlier in the day, the South Carolina Law Enforcement had confirmed that it had an active investigation against Sanders.
The indictment does not say exactly how much money was taken, just that it was less than $10,000. News19 spoke with Swansea Town Councilwoman Doris Simmons, who said she filed a complaint against Sanders with Swansea Police in May of 2020.
Simmons claimed she took the action after a council meeting where town leaders noticed more than $4,000 was moved from the town's general fund to a private foundation that Simmons and Councilman Mike Luongo said is run by Mayor Sanders.
Both Simmons and Luongo said the money was moved without the council's approval or knowledge.
"The checks were written to the Halo Community Foundation," Luongo said. "Councilwoman Simmons asked the mayor 'who is the Halo Foundation?' and '[Sanders] referred to it as his personal 501 C3. Miss Simmons was quick and she said 'Mr. Mayor, you're telling us that you wrote a check out of the general fund to your 501 c3? Do you realize that's embezzlement? That can be considered embezzlement.' and that's how this all started."
Simmons claims the town clerk and mayor continue to limit access to council-members seeing the books.
Sanders has been mayor of Swansea since 2017.