“LUV GOV” IN HOT WATER AGAIN …
The South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) has been asked to investigate allegations of child abuse involving U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford.
A SLED spokesman confirmed late Friday that the agency’s Lowcountry field office had been asked by the Beaufort County, S.C. sheriff’s office to investigate an incident involving Sanford alleged to have taken place late last month.
A determination will be reached within the next few days as to whether the agency will open a formal probe into what allegedly occurred on Sanford’s family plantation near Beaufort, S.C.
Sources familiar with the situation tell us Sanford – less than three weeks removed from his victory in a “Republican” primary election – was involved in some sort of altercation involving one of his brother’s children.
According to our sources, the incident allegedly took place after Sanford got angry at the girl for squirting him with a water gun.
“Mark was pissed because she had squirted him with a water gun so he chased her around until he trapped her bruised and bleeding on the roof of (a) dock,” our source told us.
The girl was also allegedly “was held by her ankles off the dock” – with Sanford reportedly threatening to drop her into the shallow water below.
The next day, our sources say, the child was “limping noticeably” as a result of her injuries – at which point she was taken to see a physician.
The pediatrician who attended to the girl reportedly told her mother, Julia Umbreit, that if she didn’t report Sanford to the authorities – he would.
Umbreit did report the incident to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s department.
Wow …
Sanford did not immediately respond to our request for comment regarding the incident, but that’s not surprising given this website’s history with the veteran Palmetto politician.
Once the genuine article when it came to defending taxpayers, Sanford has become just another status quo “Republican” in the aftermath of the 2009 sex scandal that derailed his presidential aspirations (and nearly cost him his job as governor of South Carolina). In fact we’ve been extensively chronicling Sanford’s descent into mushy middle-dom since his return to the U.S. House in 2013 (here, here and here).
Anyway we’ll be sure to bring our readers regular updates on this story – which has the potential to be much bigger than the campaign finance scandal Sanford is dealing with in the aftermath of his recent win over liberal “Republican” Jenny Horne.
UPDATE: Documents released in connection with investigation.
UPDATE II: Sanford’s brother responds.