Former Lexington County Sheriff James Metts is scheduled to appear before Magistrate Judge Shiva Hodges this morning.
What got the beloved sheriff of 42 years to this point?
How did Metts go from having prestige and respect, to indicted by the very system, he was charged to represent?
Greed can overwhelm all judgment and there is more than one type of greed.
There is the greed of one who is producing wealth, who just wants more.
And there is Government Greed, that takes money consensually, from people who have earned it.
Sometimes the corrupt, in government, can avail themselves to kick-backs, to feed their greed.
Did Sheriff Metts succumb to the desire to get lavishly rich, with no effort for the money?
What was going through his mind?
Gambling has a track record in S.C.
In the 1990s, mankind in his entrepreneurial wisdom, had incorporated advances in computer technology, to construct video poker machines. The devices were making millions in the state, with little effort by the owners other than buying them, and placing the machines in traffic-attracting locales.
The riches the gambling machines generated were obscene. The money made, along with the need to play, was addictive.
So when former Gov. David Beasley announced his mission to eliminate video poker, all hands – inside the gambling industry - rose against him.
Millions were contributed to defeat the Republican. Party affiliation made no difference. Saving the electronic cash cow, that glued mothers to its side and took Daddy’s paycheck, was all that mattered.
Democrat Jim Hodges defeated Beasley in 1998, and the video poker moguls, ended up losing their gold mine anyway. South Carolina's compromise was the Education Lottery. The government co-opted the gambling billions, and in the long run, took the pot.
The taste of gambling money never left.
In 2012, reports surfaced that the tumor of video gaming devices had returned. Lexington Town Councilman Danny Frazier, who was in the video gaming business in the 1990s was at it again, according to some recordings that were released to the public. And he named some muckedy-mucks as those who were helping him.
That report on gambling triggered an investigation by federal and state and law enforcement in Lexington County. And the inquiry led to the indictment of Lexington County's James Metts and three others, including Frazier.
Metts allegedly took a bribe in exchange for special privileges for illegal immigrants. But there is much more to come, if you listen to the chatter around the case.
Get set. For today, when Metts answers to a judge, it will be just the beginning. And Metts is likely but one in the path of prosecutors.
If you have an interest in power and litigation, public figures and the souls of men, there will be a lot to watch as this case of corruption unfolds. It will not be dull.
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