COLUMBIA, SC—Lance Wright, age 49, of Columbia, South Carolina; Michael Bartley, age 51, of Orangeburg, South Carolina; Robert Anthony Williams, age 57, of Tampa, Florida; and Phillip Mims, age 46, of Columbia, South Carolina, were sentenced today in federal court by United States District Judge David C. Norton. The court heard motions by the government for reduced sentences which detailed the defendants’ cooperation and assistance in the prosecution of United States v. Jonathon Pinson, and then imposed the following reduced sentences:

Wright, Williams and Mims: sentenced to three years’ probation, three months in a half-way house, ordered to pay $993,777.65 in restitution and a $200 special assessment.

Bartley: sentenced to three years’ probation, 100 hours of community service and a $100 special assessment.

Wright, Bartley, Williams and Mims had previously pled guilty to the following charges:

Bartley: One count of conspiring to use his influence as Chief of Police of South Carolina State University to promote the sale of property to SCSU in exchange for a gratuity, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371.

Wright, Williams and Mims: One count of conspiring to steal and convert public funds in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371 and one count of bank fraud in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1344.

The charges in these cases were the result of a joint investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service—Criminal Investigations, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development—Office of Inspector General, and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. Assistant United States Attorneys Nancy Wicker, Jane Taylor, J.D. Rowell and Dewayne Pearson of the Columbia office prosecuted the case.