IAPE Evidence Blog

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BYLINE: Jenny Arnold, jennifer.arnold@shj.com
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Woodruff, SC

A fed­eral judge turned down a real estate developer’s request for a lighter sen­tence on drug con­spir­acy charges based on his age and health con­di­tions on Wednes­day.

Terry Glenn Lan­ford was sen­tenced to more than four years in prison Wednes­day. Lan­ford, of Woodruff, was part of a scheme to sell drugs from the Spar­tan­burg County Courthouse’s evi­dence locker.ALEX C. HICKS JR./alex.hicks@shj.com 

Senior U.S. Dis­trict Judge Henry Her­long Jr. sen­tenced Woodruff busi­ness­man Terry Glenn Lan­ford, 54, to 50 months in prison for his role in a drug con­spir­acy involv­ing for­mer Spar­tan­burg Clerk of Court Marc Kitchens and retired mag­is­trate John Poole. 

Lan­ford also will serve three years of pro­ba­tion and pay $40,000 in fines and resti­tu­tion. He will be required to com­plete drug test­ing and treat­ment dur­ing his probation.

Lan­ford pleaded guilty in fed­eral court to con­spir­acy to pos­sess with intent to dis­trib­ute cocaine and metham­phet­a­mine in April.

Accord­ing the U.S. Attorney’s Office, on Jan. 7, 2010, agents with the Greenville DEA agents and local offi­cers con­ducted inter­views with Lan­ford. Lan­ford told agents that Kitchens was his source for the drugs sup­plied to a con­fi­den­tial source in Florida and that Kitchens obtained the drugs from the evi­dence room at the Spar­tan­burg County Courthouse.

Lan­ford told agents that Poole brought Lan­ford and Kitchens together for the drug trans­ac­tion dur­ing dis­cus­sions at a local bar in the weeks lead­ing up to Lanford’s trip to Florida to sell the drugs removed from the cour­t­house evi­dence room.

Poole, accord­ing to author­i­ties, knew both Lan­ford and Kitchens, and knew that Lan­ford made fre­quent busi­ness trips to Florida.

Her­long ques­tioned the pos­si­bil­ity that Lanford’s var­i­ous health prob­lems cropped up after he began coop­er­at­ing with the DEA and faced charges in the case. Court pro­ceed­ings for Lan­ford have been delayed sev­eral times dur­ing the past two years because of health issues. 

Her­long also pointed out that Lan­ford knew the drug buyer in Florida because he had done cocaine and met with the buyer at strip clubs while trav­el­ing on business.

“I don’t remem­ber doing that,” Lan­ford said, although later in the hear­ing he said he had done cocaine three or four times but said he met with the buyer in sports bars, not strip clubs.

After about an hour of dis­cussing aspects of the case with Lan­ford, Her­long said he was going to take a recess before deter­min­ing Lanford’s sentence.

“I don’t think I need to ask you any­more ques­tions,” Her­long said. “I think I have a real clear pic­ture of you.”
Fed­eral sen­tenc­ing guide­lines sug­gested 57 to 71 months in prison for Lanford’s crime. Her­long said he took into con­sid­er­a­tion his coop­er­a­tion with DEA agents, his lack of a prior record and his “indus­tri­ous and suc­cess­ful life” that gar­nered him a $15 mil­lion net worth.

Her­long also said that the case should send a mes­sage that indi­vid­u­als can­not con­spire with pub­lic offi­cials to steal and sell drugs. 

Before Her­long announced his sen­tence, Lan­ford said he wanted to express deep­est remorse for his par­tic­i­pa­tion in the conspiracy.

“It is totally out of my char­ac­ter,” Lan­ford said. “I know I did wrong and it’s tear­ing me apart. I’m deeply sorry.”

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Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion for Prop­erty and Evi­dence
“Law Enforce­ment Serv­ing the Needs of Law Enforce­ment”
www.IAPE.org

The New­berry Observer, South Car­olina
SECTION: STATE AND REGIONAL NEWS
BYLINE: Cindy Pitts, Staff Writer, The New­berry Observer, S.C.

Pros­per­ity, SC

A for­mer Pros­per­ity police chief is now fac­ing charges.

For­mer Police Offi­cer and Chief Craig Nel­son will be charged with mis­con­duct in office. 

While work­ing as the chief, Nel­son report­edly took $844 from the Pros­per­ity Police Depart­ment evi­dence room on Oct. 20, 2009, accord­ing to the indictment.

S.C. Attor­ney Alan Wil­son pre­sented the case to the grand jury.

Nel­son was fired from his duties once the town turned the inves­ti­ga­tion over to the South Car­olina Law Enforce­ment Division.

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Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion for Prop­erty and Evi­dence
“Law Enforce­ment Serv­ing the Needs of Law Enforce­ment”
www.IAPE.org

The Asso­ci­ated Press State & Local Wire, STATE AND REGIONAL
April 20, 2011

Spar­tan­burg County, SC

A for­mer Spar­tan­burg County mag­is­trate has been sen­tenced to a year and a half in fed­eral prison for his role in a drug scan­dal that also involved a for­mer clerk of court.

Author­i­ties say John Tru­man Poole, Jr. was sen­tenced Tues­day on a charge of con­spir­acy to pos­sess with intent to dis­trib­ute metham­phet­a­mine and cocaine. He had pre­vi­ously pleaded guilty.

Author­i­ties say Poole, for­mer court clerk Mar­cus Kitchens and a third man hatched a plan to take drugs from the Spar­tan­burg County cour­t­house evi­dence room to Florida for sale. The third man drove the drugs to Florida in April 2009 and received $3,000, which was divided among the three.

An infor­mant told agents about the sale. Mar­cus Kitchens has been sen­tenced to nearly six years in prison.

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Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion for Prop­erty and Evi­dence
“Law Enforce­ment Serv­ing the Needs of Law Enforce­ment”
www.IAPE.org