(SPARTANBURG, S.C.) — A former sheriff of Spartanburg, South Carolina, is expected to plead guilty Thursday morning to stealing money from his own police force and taking illicit drugs.
Chuck Wright previously signed a plea deal admitting to three criminal counts of conspiracy to commit theft concerning programs receiving federal funds, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and obtaining controlled substances through misrepresentation, according to court documents reviewed by ABC News.
Wright has been accused of stealing money from a benevolent fund intended for his officers facing financial difficulties and pocketed cash he said he would use to send an officer to Washington, D.C., to honor a deputy killed in the line of service, according to federal filings.
Attorneys for Wright did not immediately respond to ABC News’ requests for comment.
Two other former Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office employees pleaded guilty to charges associated with Wright.
Amos Durham, a former chaplain of the force, helped Wright steal more than $28,000 from the sheriff’s department, and Lawson Watson was paid by Wright as a deputy for four years for work he never did — totaling more than $200,000, investigators said in court documents against Durham and Watson.
Wright resigned earlier this year after working as a police officer for more than 20 years. Suspicion began to rise against him after a local paper discovered he had spent over $53,000 over six years on frivolous purchases that included dinners, fancy hotels, and subscriptions that included a keto diet program, according to the Post and Courier.
Wright previously faced an ethics investigation for nepotism in hiring his own son as a deputy, which is against state law, and allegedly used his force’s helicopter for flights that had no work- related purposes, according to local reporting.
Wright faces a maximum sentence of nearly 30 years in prison and will have to pay at least $440,000 in restitution.
A representative of the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment on the case.
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