For the second time this year, former Florence county sheriff Kenney Boone pleaded guilty to a criminal charge and received no immediate jail time.
Boone pleaded guilty to third-degree domestic violence Wednesday, according to a release from the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office.
Boone will have to complete 26 weeks of domestic abuse counseling — and if not, he will have to spend 30 days in jail or pay a $1,000 fine, Judge George McFaddin ordered Wednesday. The charge carries a penalty of up to 90 days in jail and a $2,000 fine.
The charge stems from a February incident when Boone allegedly hit a cat with a baseball bat while he was arguing with his wife. He was originally charged with second-degree domestic violence and ill treatment of animals.
On Wednesday, McFaddin dismissed the animal abuse charge due to lack of evidence.
Boone was released from jail in July, FITSNews founding editor Will Folks previously reported. He spent a total of 4.5 months in jail out of his 9-month sentence which he received for violating probation in another incident.
Boone was transferred into the custody of The Hale House in Augusta, Georgia – a facility that exists “to help individuals recover from alcohol and drug abuse and return them to society as productive members.”
Kenney Boone’s wife Anna Boone continued to advocate for him throughout his incarceration, Folks reported in July. She previously asked S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson to drop the domestic violence from the February incident — which violated the probationary sentence he received after resigning his office and pleading guilty to embezzlement and misconduct back in January.
Anna Boone claimed that Kenney Boone never struck the cat, FITSNews previously reported.
“Kenney never swung at his wife or his stepdaughter, nor did he hit the cat with the bat,” Anna Boone wrote in a letter. She attributed the incident to his chronic alcoholism – which she says stems from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Kenney Boone faced up to 15 years in prison for the charges he pleaded to in January, but was sentenced to five years probation, which can end after 18 months if he pays the $16,000 in restitution.
Boone, a 53-year-old Republican, was first elected sheriff of Florence in 2004. He was reelected in 2008, 2012 and 2016.
This news outlet has been reporting on Kenney Boone’s downward spiral since 2016. In June 2016, he posted several meltdown comments on Facebook over his then-girlfriend (now wife) Anna Boone. That drama escalated in July 2018 when Anna Boone’s ex-husband Alex Curlington allegedly threatened to kill Boone.
Then, in August 2018, Boone left threatening voicemails for then-county finance director Kevin Yokim, who questioned his spending.
Boone’s bad behavior landed him in the national spotlight during a segment on sheriffs on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.
This story will be updated.
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