Two former North Charleston City Council members and two others pleaded guilty Feb. 28 to federal corruption charges in cases that are rocking North Charleston city hall. Four others were indicted.
“When elected officials take their oath of office, they make a sacred promise to the people they serve,” acting U.S. Attorney for the District of South Carolina Brook B. Andrews said at a Feb. 26 press conference about the scandal. “They pledge to uphold the law, act with integrity and place the public interest over their own. Public service should never merely be a job. It is a public trust.
“The allegations in this case describe a profound betrayal of that trust,” he continued. “These council members used their positions not to serve their community but to enrich themselves. They traded the power entrusted to them by the city of North Charleston for their own personal gain.”
Four men appeared Friday before U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel to enter pleas: Former North Charleston City Councilmen Jerome Heyward, 61, who represented District 5; Sandino Moses, 50, who resigned after representing District 3; nonprofit Core4Success founder Donavan Moten, 46, and lobbyist Aaron Hicks, 37, of North Charleston.
Heyward pleaded guilty to 14 charges, according to court documents, after he allegedly accepted payments from nonprofit organizations in exchange for his official action on the city council. Moses pleaded guilty to a single charge of misprision of a felony — which is an allegation of knowingly withholding information regarding a felony.
Moten, founder of Core4Success, is associated in a separate alleged bribery scheme with Heyward. He pleaded guilty to bribery, honest services wire fraud, theft and money laundering, according to court documents. Hicks was charged in connection with a conspiracy to pay bribes to Brown and Heyward, and a separate conspiracy to bribe Moses. He pleaded guilty to four counts, including two counts of conspiracy to commit bribery.
Each defendant received a $50,000 unsecured bond, meaning none had to put up any money, due to having no prior criminal records. All four must appear for all future hearings, according to court documents. No sentencing date for any has been set so far.
Four others implicated in year-long investigation
Four others, including North Charleston City Councilman Mike A. Brown, 46, who represents District 1, are expected to be arraigned some time in March. Hason Tatorian Fields, 51 of Goose Creek; Rose Emily Lorenzo, 65, of North Carolina; and Michelle Stent-Hilton, 56, of North Carolina, were also indicted in the case.
Brown is charged with conspiring with Heyward and Hicks to commit bribery and honest services wire fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office. Fields, Lorenzo and Stent-Hilton are each charged with bribery, conspiracy to commit bribery and honest services wire fraud. Stent-Hilton is also charged with money laundering. A full list of all charges of those involved are detailed at charlestoncitypaper.com.
The charges and indictments followed a 12-month investigation by the FBI and the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) into three different allegations of corruption. Court documents alleged charges stemmed from three different acts: a scheme to solicit payments in exchange for an official action, rezoning of the historic Baker Hospital site in North Charleston and the city’s violence reduction grants, Andrews said.
FBI Special Agent Steve Jensen, who leads the bureau’s Columbia Field Office, outlined the significance of the charges.
“Public trust in our elected officials is a fundamental pillar of our democracy, and it should never be taken for granted,” he said. “Unfortunately, as alleged in these indictments, the defendants abused that trust, using their positions of power and influence to orchestrate back-door deals for personal gain.”
North Charleston Mayor Reggie Burgess, the city’s former police chief, said in a statement that the investigation and subsequent charges were necessary to build a safer and brighter future for the city.
“From the outset, the city has fully cooperated with this inquiry, embracing the opportunity to ensure the continued trust and confidence of our community,” he said. “Transparency and accountability remain core principles of this administration, and we welcomed this review as a necessary step to uphold those standards.”
“In light of the indictments, the city is conducting a thorough review of any matters in which the implicated city Council members may have had involvement,” he said in a second statement on Feb. 27.
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