SPARTANBURG COUNTY CLERK OF COURT FACES DRUG CHARGES

Spartanburg County Clerk of Court Faces Drug Charges Kitchens Accused
of Conspiring With Area Businessman to Sell Drugs Held As Evidence

GREENVILLE -- Federal investigators arrested Spartanburg County Clerk
of Court Marc Kitchens and an area real estate developer early
Tuesday after agents say Kitchens received $3,000 for a summer drug
deal -- and investigators believe the drugs in question came from the
evidence locker in Kitchens' office.

Kitchens is accused of conspiring with Woodruff businessman Terry
Glenn Lanford to take cocaine and methamphetamine from the locker and
sell it to a drug dealer in the Orlando, Fla., area between April
2009 and January 2010.

That charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $2
million fine.

"These are very serious and disturbing allegations," Acting U.S.
Attorney for South Carolina Kevin McDonald said Tuesday at his
Greenville office.

"Law enforcement officers risk their lives to confiscate drugs and
take them from those on the streets. And it's very disturbing when an
individual seeks to profit at his own expense, by taking these very
drugs ... and attempts to sell them back into the community."

About a year ago, Kitchens and another unidentified person approached
Lanford and asked him to find a trafficker in Florida to sell the
drugs, according to a sworn affidavit by a Drug Enforcement
Administration agent. The two chose Florida because it put some
distance between the distribution area and Spartanburg County.

But the person Lanford found in Florida last summer had recently been
arrested for drug trafficking and had agreed to work as a
confidential source for the DEA.

At the time, the informant told the DEA he already owed Lanford
$14,000 for previously delivered cocaine, according to the affidavit.
That document states that Lanford "often received his narcotics,
including heroin and methamphetamine, directly from" a Spartanburg
County law enforcement official -- an official later identified as
Kitchens. Lanford referred to his supplier as a "co-broker" and in
phone conversations would refer to selling drugs as "renting
properties," the document states.

In July, Lanford told the informant he was at a party with one of his
"brokers," and that the party was "for another judge," the affidavit
states. The two hoped to raise enough money to buy a Cirrus SR22
airplane, which cost about $130,000.

At one point, Lanford drove a black gym bag full of narcotics to the
Florida informant, the affidavit states. The informant was not
impressed by the quality, but agreed to pay $8,000 for the supply --
$3,000 up front; $5,000 later.

When Lanford returned to Spartanburg, he met Kitchens at the Nu-Way
Restaurant and Lounge and gave him $2,200 and kept $800 for himself,
the affidavit states.

In subsequent conversations detailed in the affidavit, Lanford and
Kitchens talked about the need to get their remaining cash from the
person in Florida, and there were numerous exchanges in which
Kitchens indicated he was having a hard time finding the right
"information," as he would call it.

Clerk's access to drugs Officials were unsure Tuesday if anyone other
than Kitchens had access to the evidence locker at the Spartanburg
County Courthouse. Former Clerk of Court Mark Hammond -- now
secretary of state -- said when he held the post from 1997 to 2003,
he and one other person had a key, and he had a policy in place that
didn't allow anyone to enter the locker alone.

Hammond, in a phone interview, said he didn't know what the clerk of
court's current policy was regarding the evidence locker.

Law enforcement agencies keep drugs and other confiscated contraband
on hand until a trial. The clerk of court is then keeper of records
and evidence -- in this case, drugs that have already been to court.
That evidence can still affect cases -- for instance, those that are
being appealed.

"I don't know how anything could be more in jeopardy than the keeper
of the records and the evidence in a justice system being arrested by
the federal government for drug distribution," Seventh Circuit
Solicitor Trey Gowdy said at the news conference. "I mean, there are
lots of things in jeopardy right now -- mainly, people's confidence
in the justice system."

The FBI will help inventory the evidence room and determine whether
anything is missing. Investigators were unsure Tuesday if any cases
have been affected by missing drugs.

Once federal investigators traced the drugs to the Spartanburg area,
they began working with a task force that included state and local officers.

Investigators stressed Tuesday that their investigation is ongoing.

Kitchens is one of Spartanburg County's highest-paid employees. His
salary was about $82,000 last year.

"This is a tragedy," County Administrator Glenn Breed said by phone.
"... We're going to do all we can to continue to provide the services
they do at the clerk of court's office."

Lanford operates T.G. Lanford Properties at 925 N. Main St. in
Woodruff. According to the company's Web site, Lanford established
the business in 1986 and developed it "by starting from one rental
house to hundreds of houses, warehouses and large commercial complexes."

Lanford's business also has "large vacation homes located near the
Disney area" of Orlando, the Web site states.

Barbara Easler, owner of A&B Florist, knows several people who rent
from Lanford. Easler said she "never" would have expected such charges.

"That's a surprise to me," she said.

Officials said the arrests were made in the parking lot of a Denny's
in western Spartanburg County, away from the restaurant's clientele.

Bond for Kitchens and Lanford was set at $25,000 each.

Kitchens' attorneys are former state Sen. John Hawkins of Spartanburg
and former federal judge Billy Wilkins of Greenville. Lanford is
represented by Columbia attorneys Jonathan S. Gasser and Greg Harris.

Kitchens and Lanford aren't allowed to leave South Carolina.
Kitchens, further, was ordered to turn over his keys to the
courthouse, not enter that building and not have contact with anyone
in the Clerk of Court's Office.