COLLETON COUNTY, SC (WCBD/WBTW) – Colleton County Sheriff R.A. Strickland has been indicted after allegedly providing alcohol to an underage person in Horry County, possessing controlled substances and embezzling public funds.
A state grand jury issued a 13-count indictment on Tuesday, according to the SC Attorney General’s Office.
Those indictments include:
- Misconduct in office
- Use of official position for financial gain – Ethics Act violation
- Embezzlement
- use of public fund, property, or time to influence election: Ethics Act Violation
- distribution of a schedule II controlled substance
- distribution of a schedule IV controlled substance
The indictment alleges that in 2017 in Horry County, while serving as the elected sheriff of Colleton County, Strickland, Jr. provided alcohol to a subordinate who was under the legal drinking age of 21.
The indictment also alleges, Strickland, Jr. did “knowingly and intentionally, distribute, dispense, and/or deliver; or did aid, abet, attempt, or conspire to distribute, dispense, and/or deliver, a quantity” of Ambien, which is a schedule IV controlled substance under SC law.
Strickland, Jr. is also accused of using “his position as elected Sheriff of Colleton County to get free labor performed on his personal property and for his personal benefit or businesses by subordinate deputies and staff” around January 1, 2016, to November 30, 2019, according to the indictments. Strickland, Jr. is further accused of embezzling public funds for personal use.
The indictment also accuses Strickland, Jr. of giving a government radio, worth about $3,000, to a citizen “with no valid official purpose for providing this county property to the citizen.”
Strickland, Jr. was indicted by a grand jury in November for second-degree domestic violence after allegedly punching a female household member in the face.
During a court hearing on Tuesday, Strickland was issued a $25,000 surety bond and GPS monitoring for at least 90 days.
