Co-Defendant Businessman Sentenced in Prosecution of Former Spartanburg County Clerk of Court Marcus Woodrow Kitchens

COLUMBIA, SC—United States Attorney Bill Nettles stated today that the Terry Glenn Lanford, 54, of Woodruff, was sentenced today in federal court for his role in the Spartanburg Clerk of Court case. Lanford, who previously entered a guilty plea to federal drug conspiracy charges in April, was sentenced by Senior United States District Court Judge Henry M. Herlong, Jr., to 50 months in federal prison, followed by a three-year term of supervised release. The court also levied a $10,000 fine and $10,000 in community restitution. Co-defendant and former Clerk of Court Marcus Woodrow Kitchens entered a guilty plea as indicted in June 2010 and was sentenced to 70 months in December of 2010. A third co-defendant, John Truman Poole, Jr., entered a guilty plea as indicted in February and was sentenced in April to 18 months in federal prison.

In mid-2009, an individual, (hereinafter “CS”) was arrested by DEA Orlando (Florida) and agreed to cooperate with DEA investigators regarding an upstate South Carolina narcotics broker with a suspected law enforcement source of supply. Lab analysis of the drugs seized from the CS pursuant to his arrest revealed net weights of 422 grams of a substance containing methamphetamine and 377 grams of cocaine. After a debriefing of CS by law enforcement, CS told law enforcement that in April of 2009, he purchased the seized drugs described above from an individual identified as Terry Glenn Lanford, a Woodruff business owner and real estate developer. CS further advised investigators that Lanford told him that the narcotics were taken directly from an unidentified law enforcement agency’s evidence locker and that the narcotics were still packaged in what appeared to be an unidentified law enforcement agency’s evidence bag.

CS made recorded phone calls to Lanford in July 2009 and August 2009 while under the supervision of DEA Orlando (FL). CS was debriefed by DEA Greenville (SC) in August of 2009.

Beginning on January 7, 2010, agents with the Greenville DEA office and officers from the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office and the Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office assigned to the DEA task force conducted interviews with Lanford. During these interviews, Lanford agreed to cooperate and relayed to agents that his source for the narcotics supplied to the confidential source was Marcus Woodrow Kitchens (Kitchens), the elected Clerk of Court for Spartanburg County and that Kitchens obtained the drugs from the evidence room at the Spartanburg County Courthouse. Lanford told agents that a third individual, John Truman Poole, Jr.(Poole), brought Lanford and Kitchens together for purposes of this drug transaction during discussions at a local bar in the weeks leading up to Lanford’s trip to Florida to sell the drugs removed from the courthouse evidence room. Kitchens later confirmed, after his arrest on these charges, Poole’s involvement in the conspiracy.

Poole, a former part-time and full-time Spartanburg County Magistrate and private banker at the time, knew both Lanford and Kitchens. Poole also knew that Lanford made frequent business trips to Florida and believed that Lanford may know someone in Florida that would buy drugs. When the discussion of selling drugs removed from the evidence room surfaced during a conversation between Kitchens and Poole at a local bar in March of 2009, Poole suggested to Kitchens that Lanford, based on his out-of-state travel, may be able to help. Poole phoned Lanford, asking him to meet him and Kitchens at a local bar. Poole, Kitchens, and Lanford met on at least two occasions thereafter to discuss the plan to transport the drugs for sale in Florida; including a parking lot meeting at a local fast food restaurant, whereupon Kitchens provided Lanford, with Poole present, a sample of the drugs removed from the evidence room, for Lanford to present to the confidential source in Florida.

In early April of 2009, Lanford drove the drugs to Orlando, negotiated a sale price of $8,000 and received a partial payment of $3,000 from the confidential source, which was disbursed among the three upon Lanford’s return to South Carolina. According to Poole, he received $715 from the transaction.

After his initial meetings with DEA/Greenville, Lanford placed several phone calls to Kitchens, which were monitored and recorded by law enforcement. In these calls, Lanford told Kitchens that in his recent travels to Florida, he had re-established contact with the buyer (confidential source); furthermore, that the buyer was now willing to pay the remainder ($5,000) of the negotiated price from the April 2009 transaction. Lanford relayed to Kitchens that the buyer (confidential source) wanted to buy more drugs if Kitchens could obtain them. Kitchens agreed to look for more drugs.

Lanford and Kitchens communicated from January 8, 2010, through February 2, 2010, via cell phone conversations, text messages, and voice mails. Though Kitchens was unable to obtain additional drugs from the evidence room, Lanford told Kitchens that he was still able to recover partially owed funds from the buyer in Florida. In one of the calls, Kitchens suggested to Lanford that they keep the additional funds between themselves and not split it “three ways.” Kitchens and Lanford agreed to meet on the morning of February 2, 2010, at a Spartanburg restaurant.

During this recorded meeting, Lanford gave Kitchens an envelope containing $3,000 in documented funds. Kitchens gave Lanford $200 from the envelope for gas money. Kitchens was arrested by DEA agents as he left the restaurant.

Lanford then placed a recorded call to John Poole to confirm lunch plans later that day. During that call, Lanford brought up the April 2009 drug transaction, inquiring if Poole received any payment at the time. Poole confirmed that he did receive a small amount.

Later that day, during a recorded conversation at lunch, Lanford offered Poole additional money from the April 2009 transaction. Poole refused to take the money, telling Lanford that “it’s dirty” and that “it was a dumb idea and the wrong way to make a dollar.” Poole suggested that Lanford give the money to Kitchens and that Kitchens should “cut a cashier’s check and put in the collection plate in church.”

Agents from the Greenville FBI office joined the investigation in advance of the money exchange between Lanford and Kitchens. Specifically, local FBI agents along with the FBI Evidence Response Team worked tirelessly with members of the Spartanburg County Clerk’s Office, the Seventh Circuit Solicitor’s office, and SLED to immediately secure and inventory the evidence room in the Spartanburg County courthouse.

The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED). Assistant United States Attorneys Lance Crick and Andy Moorman of the Greenville Office handled the case.