Former S.C. Department of Transportation employees charged with corruption

Three former S.C. Department of Transportation employees were charged with public corruption, after a State Grand Jury investigation, the S.C. Attorney General’s office announced Thursday.

Five S.C. State Grand Jury indictments were issued June 22, but were under seal until Thursday.

Charles w. Shirley, a former Transportation Department field operations manager, received more than $360,000 because he secretly had financial interest in a company that did contract work for his Transportation Department division, according to his indictment. The indictment charges Shirley with criminal conspiracy, official misconduct in office, three counts of receiving anything of value to influence action of public employee and acceptance of rebates or extra compensation.

According to the indictments: In 2009, Shirley and Allen Kent Ray, who is not a Transportation Department employee, conspired to form a company — Pine Ridge Specialty Services — that would receive Transportation Department contracts. The company was in Ray’s name but Shirley provided the seed money and had a major role in the company. However, Shirley’s interest in the company was kept secret and hidden from the Transportation Department and the public.

Because of his job at the Transportation Department, Shirley could insure that Pine Ridge Specialty Services got contracts from the state agency and that the payments were approved. “Shirley was able to ensure that he could extract large sums from (Pine Ridge Specialty Services) for his own benefit,” the indictment said.

Shirley and Ray conspired from August 2009 until about July 2015, the indictment said. Shirley resigned from the Transportation Department in January of 2016.

Ray is charged with criminal conspiracy and offering anything of value to influence action of a public employee.

Another Transportation Department employee, Curtis Singleton, a former head of a signal shop, which oversees the installation and maintenance traffic lights used his supervisor role to create a “pay to play” scheme. Singleton “demanded and received cash bribes and kickbacks from contractors whose work he supervised and assigned,” according to a news release from the Attorney General’s office.

For example, in September 2011, Singleton asked a contractor to build an intersection on Fish Hatchery Road at Pine Ridge Drive in Lexington County. The contractor paid a $1,200 bribe to Singleton to get the job and continue to get work from the signal shop.

In another instance, in September 2012, Singleton told a contractor to mark up the price of supplies in the invoice submitted to the Transportation Department. The contractor increased the price for about $3,400 more than he paid and Singleton then demanded the contractor pay him approximately $2,500, which the contractor paid in cash.

Singleton’s charges include receiving anything of value to influence action of a public employee, official misconduct in office and acceptance of rebates or extra compensation.

▪  Joe Edward Butler, a former Transportation Department inspector, sold agency equipment to contractors, keeping the money for himself and receiving other improper kickbacks. For example, from May 2013 until September 2014 Butler received nearly $14,500 for selling Transportation Department equipment on 14 occasions.

Butler is charged with three counts of receiving anything of value to influence action of public employee, three counts of breach of trust with fraudulent intent and acceptance of rebates or extra compensation.

The S.C. Transportation Department “has zero tolerance for wrongdoing of any kind,” said Transportation Secretary Christy Hall.

This story was originally published July 28, 2016 at 4:52 PM with the headline "Former S.C. Department of Transportation employees charged with corruption."