Ex-Chester County SC Sheriff Underwood, deputies to serve time in prison for corruption
A former South Carolina sheriff convicted of corruption while serving as the top law enforcement officer in Chester County has been sentenced to nearly four years in federal prison, a judge ruled Monday.
The 46-month sentence is one of the longest prison sentences meted out in recent years to lawbreaking former law enforcement officials.
Alex “Big A’ Underwood, 59, of Chester, a former State Law Enforcement Division agent, must report to prison by Sept. 15.
“He was in a position of trust, and this case was about the abuse of that trust,” said presiding Judge Michelle Childs during a federal hearing in Columbia.
It may be one of the last, if not the last, appearance Childs will make as district court judge. She could be confirmed this week or next as a judge on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, one of the nation’s most prestigious courts and one step below the U.S Supreme Court.
Underwood’s case shone a light on the lack of state financial or other oversight on the offices of the state’s 46 sheriffs, who have wide latitude in spending money and how they treat deputies. Deputies serve at the pleasure of the sheriff. Sheriffs are elected by their counties, whose local governments have little control over the sheriffs’ offices.
Underwood was convicted in April 2021 after a two-week trial on charges related to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, federal program theft, falsifying records, an attempted coverup and unlawful arrest of a Chester County man in 2018. He declined to testify at trial.
Underwood was sheriff from 2013 until he was suspended in 2019 after being indicted. He was convicted of taking more than $29,000 combined in pay for hours not worked and by using deputies on county time for personal labor to help build a man cave in his barn, records show.
Underwood was the first Black sheriff in Chester County. The rural county is between Columbia and Rock Hill and has around 32,000 residents, some 58% of whom are White and 36% are Black.
Two other top Chester County deputies who worked for Underwood and who were convicted in the same trial on related offenses also were sentenced Monday. All three showed remorse.
Robert Sprouse, 47, of Ridegeway, former chief deputy, was sentenced to 24 months in prison. He was represented by attorney Michael Laubshire.
Former Lt. Johnny Neal, 42, of Lancaster, was sentenced to 46 months in prison. Neal was represented by attorney Andrew Johnston.
Like Underwood, Sprouse and Neal waived their right to testify at the trial.
Underwood is the 12th sheriff in South Carolina in the past dozen years to be arrested or convicted of criminal acts.
Prosecutor: ‘A crook and a bully.’
“He lied, he cheated and he stole when he got into power,” prosecutor William Miller told Childs during Underwood’s two-hour sentencing hearing Monday. Miller is one of the trial attorneys for the U.S. Department of Justice’s public integrity section who prosecuted the case last year.
Miller said Underwood was someone who should have stood for the rule of law. But Underwood instead broke it repeatedly, Miller said.
”The sheriff is a powerful position, a symbol,” Miller said. “The defendant (Underwood) proved to be a crook and a bully.”
Instead of serving the public, Underwood took almost $30,000 through using deputies to work on his man-cave barn instead of patrolling the streets, Miller said.
Underwood also was part of the scheme to take money from taxpayers and deputies and divert it to him for a DUI traffic checkpoint operation, Miller said.
Underwood and his chief deputy, Sprouse, also traveled on county expense to Nevada in 2017 on a trip with their wives, Miller said.
Miller reminded the judge that the real victims in the case were the taxpayers of Chester County.
“The individual who works hard every day, from 7-3, or 8-5, earning just a bit over minimum wage,” he said, quoting a victim impact statement drawn up by Chester County attorney Joanie Winters.
Defense: Underwood was a victim
Underwood’s attorneys — Stanley Myers and Jake Moore— urged Childs to give Underwood the lightest sentence possible and gave the judge their own version of how to think about the former sheriff. Attorney Gil Bell also represented Underwood.
Myers said Underwood is a victim of a close-knit group of movers and shakers in Chester County — all white men — who call themselves the Breakfast Club who targeted the Black sheriff for harassment, and worse, when he won the sheriff’s job.
Myers also cited six former sheriffs or top law officials who had committed roughly the same crimes as Underwood, but only wound up with a year or less in prison.
Moore, focusing on the man whose civil rights Underwood was found guilty of violating, told the judge that when the man, Kevin Simpson, was taken into custody, he had been harassing Underwood on the side of the road as the sheriff tried to direct a manhunt for a dangerous man. The suspect had fled into the woods in the aftermath of a horrific car crash.
Simpson broadcast live a 27-minute video on Facebook at the time.
Simpson was “like a little chihuahua nipping at his heels,” Moore said.
Underwood speaks
Underwood, who spoke without notes for 20 minutes and began crying toward the end, told the judge he had devoted his life to law enforcement, gotten stabbed and shot, and through it all endured racism.
In Chester County, where in 1984 he had one of his first law enforcement jobs, he wasn’t “even allowed to lock up a white person,” he said. He recalled the Ku Klux Klan had a rally on a Chester area football field around 1980.
Going into law enforcement, “as a Black person ... I thought I could help things from the inside,” he said.
Recalling the 1992 vicious beating of Rodney King by the Los Angeles police department, he said, “There is no way in the world I would violate anybody’s civil rights.”
At the time of the 2018 manhunt where he locked up Simpson, Underwood said he was recalling another high pressure manhunt in 2004 when he was with SLED. A sheriff called off a manhunt that he wanted to continue. In that case, the fugitive went on the kill the husband of a SLED employee, Underwood said.
He also recalled that when he got the sheriff’s job, people played the song, “I shot the sheriff” over the county radios, and the Chester County council refused to give him money to fix patrol cars or to buy radios for the large, rural county. He also got death threats and he and his wife, Angel, had to walk in a Christmas parade wearing bulletproof vests.
Angel Underwood, a magistrate judge in Chester County who is on suspension, told Judge Childs the family dog was poisoned by racists after her husband was elected in 2012.
Both she and her husband asked Childs for mercy.
“Your honor, please, please, have mercy on me,” Underwood told Childs, asking her not to judge him on one incident. “Don’t judge me by that.”
Prosecutor says facts led to conviction
Miller urged the judge not to heed what he described as Underwood’s sanitized version of what happened.
“All the government did in this case was follow the facts,” Miller said.
Miller also objected to Moore’s description of a civil rights victim as “a barking dog.”
Miller recalled that part of Underwood’s defense was that the deputies he had work on his barn were doing it as “a morale building excercise.” Miller then shouted in court, “C’mon!”
Underwood had tried to cover up the incident of Simpson’s arrest, Miller said. No incident report was filed and then, when questions began to be asked by the FBI, Underwood oversaw the production of a false report.
Miller said Underwood had to get a prison sentence to prove to the public that the rule of law will be followed.
Miller said the idea that Underwood was prosecuted because of his race was nonsense, and the conviction showed it.
“The jury didn’t buy it either,” Miller said.
Miller said the facts showed that Underwood used his position to take money from the public, his own deputies, and then tried to blame a citizen for a crime the citizen did not commit.
Video was key evidence
Childs said in sentencing Underwood that the people of Chester County expected their law enforcement to uphold the law and protect the public.
“They expected law enforcement to do their jobs, not use their positions for personal gain,” Childs said.
Dozens of Underwood supporters were at the federal courthouse for the hearing. So many, in fact, that many could not fit into the courtroom. Several spoke to Childs, citing Bible verses, recalling the good points of Underwood’s career, his character and his struggles with racism.
Underwood declined comment to McClatchy after the hearing as he left with his family and many supporters.
Miller also declined comment after the hearing.
Chief deputy sentenced to 2 years prison
Sprouse, the former chief deputy who was second in command at the sheriff’s office during Underwood’s tenure, did nothing to halt Underwood’s actions, Miller the federal prosecutor said Monday.
”Mr. Sprouse had an obligation to do something, but instead of being the chief deputy he became the chief enabler,” Miller said in court. “He tried to sweep the misconduct under the rug.”
Sprouse was involved in the cover-up of the Simpson arrest that included false reports and lying to the FBI, Miller said. Sprouse also was part of the approval of misuse of deputies who were supposed to be protecting the public, but were instead tasked with manual labor building Underwood’s barn, Miller said.
Sprouse was convicted of conspiracy to falsify records, conspiracy to commit wire fraud theft, federal program theft, falsification of records, and making false statements to the FBI.
Sprouse’s lawyer, Michael Laubshire, said Sprouse did what his boss, Underwood, directed Sprouse to do.
“His (Sprouse’s) missteps began with Underwood’s actions,” Laubshire said. “He (Sprouse) was a participant. Underwood started all this. Sprouse was just following orders.”
Laubshire asked Judge Childs to give Sprouse probation.
Sprouse, a deputy for 21 years, cried in court, saying to Childs that he was truly sorry.
“I was a good law enforcement officer,’ Sprouse said. “Now, for the rest of my life, I am a convicted felon.”
Childs reiterated that, like Neal and Underwood, Sprouse violated the trust that came with being the top law enforcement officers in Chester County.
“The people of Chester County are the victims in this case,” Childs said. “They trusted law enforcement. That sense of trust was lost.”
Sprouse has to report to federal prison by Sept. 1.
After court, Sprouse and his lawyer declined to comment to McClatchy.
Neal also sentenced to 46 months
Neal was a lieutenant at the sheriff’s office during Underwood’s tenure.
Neal was convicted of falsifying records, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, unlawful arrest and violation of Kevin Simpson’s civil rights.
Of all three defendants, Neal was convicted of the most charges and faced a maximum of 57 months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines, Childs said.
Miller said Neal was at the center of the false arrest of Kevin Simpson in 2018, then was part of the plan to conceal it with false reports and concealed evidence.
Neal was the ringleader of what Childs called the “scheme” to siphon thousands of dollars in pay for traffic enforcement for deputies at checkpoints.
“He was responsible for running the checkpoint scheme,” Childs said.
Neal said in court he was sorry for his actions.
This story was originally published July 11, 2022 at 6:27 PM.
