Former Chester County, SC supervisor to be in court Wednesday, faces drug charges
Shane Stuart, the top elected official in Chester County until he was arrested and charged in 2020 with drug trafficking and other violations, will be in court Wednesday, officials said.
Kenneth “Shane” Stuart, also a former Chester County sheriff’s deputy and military veteran, was indicted by a South Carolina grand jury on charges of trafficking methamphetamine, manufacturing meth, conspiracy, and misconduct in office.
Stuart, 48, was Chester County Supervisor from 2015 until his arrest in September 2020. He was suspended from office the day he was arrested.
The court hearing Wednesday is at Chester County Courthouse, according to the S.C. Attorney General’s Office.
Prosecutors with the attorney general said previously in court that Stuart used county vehicles to avoid police detection while dealing drugs in Chester and York counties.
Stuart has been free on bail with an electronic ankle bracelet since about two weeks after his arrest.
Fall of the county supervisor
In the summer of 2020, Chester County Sheriff Max Dorsey and other law enforcement officers went to South Carolina state police with the State Law Enforcement Division and state prosecutors after hearing that Stuart allegedly used a county truck during drug deals, testimony in previous court hearings alleged.
Indictments obtained by The Herald allege that Stuart trafficked more than 400 grams of meth in one instance, and manufactured meth in two other charges. He also is accused of dealing drugs during work hours while in his county vehicle, and conspiring with others to steal catalytic converters from Chester County trucks.
Stuart was elected in 2015, defeating longtime supervisor Carlisle Roddey. He was re-elected in 2018 to a four-year term. Gov. Henry McMaster suspended Stuart after his arrest and appointed former court magistrate Wylie Frederick as interim county supervisor.
Follow heraldonline.com Wednesday for coverage of Stuarts’ court hearing.
