SC parole board denies release of ex-HomeGold exec

COLUMBIA -- South Carolina’s parole board rejected an appeal Wednesday by former HomeGold executive Ronnie Sheppard for early release from prison, after hearing from elderly investors who had lost their life savings to securities fraud.

The panel, which also heard from Attorney General Alan Wilson and others, voted 6-1 Wednesday to deny Sheppard’s request.

Sheppard was seeking parole after serving four years of a 20-year sentence. He was sentenced for securities fraud, conspiracy and obtaining property under false pretenses for his role in the 2003 collapse of HomeGold and its subsidiary Carolina Investors.

More than 8,000 investors lost $275 million in one of the biggest bankruptcies in state history.

Wilson’s rare appearance came in the wake of the panel’s decision in December to grant Sheppard’s parole, which was reversed within days after the attorney general complained his office wasn’t notified in time to contest the release.

“It was a glitch,” Wilson said afterward. “I am very grateful, because we wanted to make sure that the victims were heard.”

Sheppard told the board through a close-circuit television appearance that he’d tried to make restitution by paying $3.5 million back, and that he’s been giving other inmates religious and financial advice in order to try to do some good.

“He accepts his criminal responsibility for what he failed to do,” said his attorney, O. Grady Query.

Query argued that he didn’t think the panel should have been able to take back its initial decision, and that it was time to release Sheppard as a non-violent offender back to the community.

Many of the witnesses argued that even though it may be considered a “white collar” crime, Sheppard’s sentence should be served in full because of the difficulties that crime caused for so many.

Sen. Larry Martin of Pickens, who said his phone “rang off the hook for weeks” after the panel’s December decision, said the financial loss was devastating to many in his community.

“He was very culpable in the financial fraud,” Martin said. “I’m talking thousands, I mean 8,000, victims. This man needs to continue to serve his sentence.”

Gene Gregory, 79, who owns a fast-food restaurant in Union, said he was forced to return to work seven days a week after losing $1.4 million in savings.

“My life has been wrecked,” Gregory said after the vote. “I’m a happy man. He needs to stay in there.”

Wallace Jones, 83, who said he and his wife Mary, 88, lost $271,000 in savings in the financial debacle, said it was hard to spare the money for gas for the two-hour drive from their home in Anderson to testify.

“I decided I’d go hungry one day, just to come and testify,” Jones said.