On Thurs. June 20, news outlets around the state reported that a state grand jury had indicted two public officials in Chesterfield County on charges of misconduct in office. Now, copies of the indictments obtained by the City Paper reveal more details of the accusations against them.

Chesterfield County is located near the middle of the state’s northern border. The two officials who have been indicted are Ritchie C. Rollings, the jail administrator at Chesterfield County Detention Center, and Harold Reuben Hainey, the county’s emergency management director and assistant county manager. Hainey was previously employed as a captain at the Chesterfield County Sheriff’s Department, according to a press release from S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson’s office, which will prosecute the case.

According to his indictment, Rollings’ offenses took place from January 2003 to August 2012. The indictment states that Rollings’ offenses “include but are not limited to failing to properly supervise inmates on loan from the South Carolina Department of Corrections and using the services of an inmate on loan to Chesterfield County from the South Carolina Department of Corrections for his personal gain by using the inmate to work on personal property at Rollings’ residence.”

Hainey’s indictment, which covers a period from March 2004 to August 2012, accuses him of “using the services of an inmate on loan to Chesterfield County from the South Carolina Department of Corrections for his personal gain; having an inmate to work on vehicles and property belonging to Hainey; taking money from an inmate in exchange for certain favors for the inmate to include relaxed supervision; taking goods from an inmate and selling them for his own personal profit; and engaging in business dealings with an inmate for personal profit.”

Rollings and Hainey each face a single count of a misdemeanor charge and could serve up to 10 years in prison if found guilty. Chesterfield County has suspended both of them indefinitely.


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