Feds say Wednesday that three members of the City Council in South Carolina’s third-largest city either took bribes or kickbacks to give out grant money and rezone land or lied about what they knew.
Five people, including North Charleston councilmen Jerome Heyward, Sandino Moses, and Mike A. Brown, were charged on Wednesday. The charges came after a probe by the FBI and state officials that lasted a year.
Court records show that Heyward took $40,000 from two nonprofits in exchange for helping them get a portion of a $1.3 million grant to fight gun crime in North Charleston.
A boat builder planned to rezone land on the Ashley River in North Charleston that had been a hospital and then a fertilizer plant so that they could sell it to another boat builder. Heyward and Brown were involved in the plan. The business said they would build a park, but they also wanted to put a plant there.
The councilmen took bribes to try to get the rezoning approved. At the same time, the FBI was listening to Heyward’s call and caught Brown complaining that he needed to pay for his son’s wedding and was taking too long to get his money, according to the charges.
The plan for rezoning was turned down.
Moses also brought money to help with the rezoning. Records show that he returned it, but lied about the offer and what he knew about his fellow councilmen being dishonest.
There are charges against Heyward for extortion, bribery, and wire theft. Brown has been charged with bribery and wire theft, and Moses has been charged with lying to federal agents.
Brook Andrews, who is serving as U.S. Attorney for South Carolina, said that Heyward and Moses plan to plead guilty on Friday.
Heyward’s lawyer didn’t say anything on Wednesday. The other councilmen and their lawyers didn’t answer right away. North Charleston officials said that Heyward and Moses have quit the council.
At a news conference, Andrews said, “The accusations in this case describe a deep breach of trust.” “These council members didn’t use their jobs to help their communities; they used them to get rich.”
The city of North Charleston is the third biggest in South Carolina, with about 125,000 people living there. Police from the FBI and the state were thanked by Mayor Reggie Burgess for their work to keep people trusting their city government. He said that the city helped the investigation in every way.
“Transparency and accountability are still very important to this administration, so we were glad to see this review as a necessary step to keep those standards,” Burgess said.
