A hearing will be held on Friday morning (December 7) in the criminal case of suspended Greenville County sheriff Will Lewis, sources have confirmed to this news site.
The hearing – scheduled for 10:15 a.m. EST at the Greenville county court house – will be attended by S.C. sixteenth circuit solicitor Kevin Brackett, who is handling the prosecution of the disgraced law enforcement official.
It is not immediately clear whether Lewis – who recently settled a civil suit in connection with the scandal that enveloped his office last year – will plead guilty to the criminal charges he is currently facing or whether his case will head to trial. Nor is it immediately clear which judge is presiding over tomorrow’s proceedings, although we have been told it could be S.C. circuit court judge Alex Kinlaw Jr.
Obviously a lot is riding on the outcome of Lewis’ case … including a possible special election to replace the scandal-scarred law man.
Lewis’ sex/ corruption scandal – most of which unfolded exclusively on our pages – resulted in misconduct in office and obstruction of justice charges being filed against the first-term sheriff in April. By statute, Lewis was suspended from office upon his indictment and S.C. governor Henry McMaster appointed former county sheriff Johnny Mack Brown to serve as an interim pending the resolution of the charges against him.
Brown has created a bit of controversy by openly campaigning on behalf of the frontrunner in the upcoming campaign for this seat – A.T. Smith, a former deputy director of the U.S. Secret Service.
Smith is one of several candidates who have already filed to run for this seat at the first available opportunity.
The Lewis drama began last August when this news outlet exclusively reported on seismic allegations made against him by 25-year-old Savannah Nabors.
(Click to view)
(Via: Provided)
According to Nabors (above), Lewis sexually assaulted her during a March 2017 business trip to Charlotte, North Carolina.
“He’s a church-going man, strong in his faith,” Nabors wrote in a since-deleted blog post . “You think he could never be capable of something so manipulative, so hypocritical. The man that you think is legal, ethical, and moral is anything but those things.”
Those allegations were expanded upon in a bombshell lawsuit filed against Lewis (and Greenville County government) last October. In that lawsuit, it was graphically alleged that the 43-year-old sheriff drugged and raped Nabors during the Charlotte trip.
“(Nabors) remembers regaining consciousness when the Sheriff was on top of her, having sex with her,” the lawsuit alleged. “It took (her) a second to realize what was happening and she had no idea how long it had gone on. The Sheriff asked (her) if she was ready for him to ‘finish,’ and (she) said yes. The Sheriff then giggled, making a joke about how long he could ‘last,’ and added that he was sure (Nabors) was not used to that. (Nabors) then lost consciousness again.”
U.S. district court judge Donald Coggins dismissed the civil lawsuit in late October, though, after the parties to the action – Nabors, Lewis and Greenville County taxpayers – reached an undisclosed agreement.
In addition to its graphic allegations of sexual assault, Nabors’ lawsuit contained numerous audio recordings of her various interactions with Lewis in 2017. In one of these recordings, Lewis discussed his plans to further an affair with her on the taxpayer dime – and cover it up.
Upon hearing this audio evidence, this news outlet issued the first public call for Lewis to resign – irrespective of the disposition of the rape allegation against him.
“It is abundantly clear that Lewis plotted to defraud taxpayers as part of his efforts to advance an affair with Nabors – secure in the knowledge that no one would ever find out about his scheming,” we wrote.
As the investigation into Lewis escalated, his alleged efforts to undermine it ramped up. Meanwhile Nabors has apparently drawn the scrutiny of investigators in connection with this case as well, although she has not been charged with any crimes.
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