commentary by Patrick H. Moore
“Big Sam” Parker has been a South Carolina lawman for a solid forty years. In 2002, he was elected sheriff of bucolic Chesterfield County, a rural area of South Carolina nestled between Charlotte, NC to the north and Columbia, SC to the south. According to a Chesterfield County website, the “county’s rural atmosphere evokes family farms and gentle country living.”
Based on the fact that Chesterfield County, which is about two-thirds white and one-third black, appears to epitomize low-key country life, it seems a bit strange that one of the first things Big Sam did upon being elected sheriff was to raise money to train and equip one of the best SWAT teams in the state and some of the best tracking dogs. Nonetheless, the good folk of Chesterfield County have no doubt been sleeping easier for the past twelve years knowing that if the bad guys are dumb enough to run amuck on their home turf, Big Sam’s SWAT team will not hesitate to march in and kick some serious ass.
In fact, more than likely, Big Sam, who is the essence of a working sheriff, will be right alongside his team, either that or he’ll be keeping his weather eye open from his favorite vantage point hanging out the window of the refurbished military surplus helicopter that he wrangled for the county at some point after being elected. (Given his approximate age, it’s entirely possible that Big Sam was a tail gunner back in Vietnam.)
It would be a mistake to think that Big Sam’s focus has been primarily on hardware as opposed to people, for the simple reason that he is first and foremost a people person who according to those who know him best, has dedicated his life to serving and protecting the people of Chesterfield County. Big Sam’s approach has always been to get and keep the people involved. For example, shortly after assuming office, Big Sam began recruiting folks to help his deputies out at big events such as high school football games. (I hardly need mention that high school football is king in SC.) According to the indictment, Big Sam also encouraged people whom he referred to as “reserve deputies” to wear police uniforms and carry badges even though they had no training in law enforcement.
All of this would probably have been quite acceptable to the powers that be in Chesterfield County if Big Sam had managed to hold it at that. At some point, however, along with doing favors for the law abiding folks, People Pleaser Sam allegedly allowed himself to be compromised by doing favors for those inmates at the county jail who earned his trust, which is what has led to the criminal charges against him. The incident that apparently caught the eye of the local prosecutors was the time Big Sam flew one of the county jail inmates in his plane (or helicopter) to visit his sick mother.
Unfortunately for Sheriff Parker, this same ungrateful inmate turned on Sam and began singing like a canary after the sheriff disciplined him for an unspecified rule violation. Jeffrey Collins of the Associated Press writes:
“The prisoner, who was serving 15 years for arson and was sent to Chesterfield County to help with tasks like fixing cars and maintaining county property, told investigators he was allowed to drink alcohol, sleep outside the jail, use an iPad and have unsupervised visits with women, according to an indictment against Parker.”
According to the prosecutors, Sheriff Parker also gave away confiscated weapons, including an M-14 semi-automatic rifle, to friends who were not deputies.
Even though Big Sam is one of 7 sheriffs out of South Carolina’s 46 counties to face charges or criminal investigations in the past four years, according to Jeffrey Collins, the allegations against him stunned his fellow sheriffs, who, sociable folks that they are, are in the habit of meeting several times a year for training and to swap stories.
“I’ve never known him to drink; I’ve never known him to smoke. I’ve always known him to be in church and I’ve always known him to be straight down the line. That’s why I’m interested to see what happens next week and whether all this stuff in the paper really happened,” said Fred Knight, sheriff of neighboring Marlboro County.
During his time in office, Big Sam built up plenty of good will among his fellow lawmen by sharing his substantial resources with neighboring counties any time he needed help. For example, Marlboro County deputies said any time there was trouble afoot necessitating an extensive investigation in one of their neighborhoods, Sheriff Parker never hesitated to send over as many officers as necessary to help out.
“He’d be right there with his SWAT team suited up,” said Marlboro County Sheriff’s Lt. Jamie Scales.
In a general sense, sheriffs all across the state are none too pleased that over the past few years, their conduct has been scrutinized a bit more closely than they are used to or comfortable with. Allegedly, the prosecutors have used a vague law to criminalize policy violations. Parker’s own lawyer suggested after his arrest in March 2013, that sheriffs in rural areas have been operating in a similar manner for decades, but that Sheriff Parker was being singled out for unknown reasons.
What sets Big Sam apart from his brother sheriffs is that while most of them did the expeditious thing and pleaded guilty, thus avoiding jail time prior to quietly fading away, Parker has taken the manly step of utilizing his constitutional rights by fighting back and going to trial, thus risking the possibility that he may soon be spending time behind bars in the company of his inmate friends.
“Sam is looking forward to getting his side of the story in front of an objective jury,” said his defense attorney, Johnny Gasser.
Like many criminal defense attorneys, Mr. Gasser appears to be a bit of a dreamer. Technically speaking, Big Sam is almost undoubtedly guilty of at least some of the charges against him which include “five counts of misconduct in office, two counts of furnishing contraband to inmates and one count of embezzlement. The misconduct and contraband charges each carry up to 10 years in prison and the embezzlement charge has a maximum five-year punishment.”
Ironically, the same State Law Enforcement Division, for whom Parker worked for 12 years as an agent prior to being elected Sheriff, is the body that initiated the wide-ranging probe that resulted in a grand jury indictment and charges being lodged against him.
According to Jeffrey Collins, Parker voluntarily stepped aside when he was indicted so the governor wouldn’t have to suspend him. But he wants his job back. If he is found not guilty, he will ask Gov. Nikki Haley to put him right back in office.
And last month, he walked into the county election offices and paid $2,700 to file as the only Republican seeking a four-year term as sheriff.
Parker explains his motivation in the following manner:
“I’m a working sheriff. I’m here for the people and not for the power.”
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Aside from the corruption and his childish desire for Chesterfield County to possess the finest SWAT team in the entire state, Sheriff Parker may not be a bad fellow. He reminds me of a South Carolina sheriff that I observed nearly 35 years ago when I was traveling through South Carolina on my way to New York. After a 
night in a dreamy Comfort Inn, I was having breakfast with my girlfriend in a coffee shop and as we were eagerly awaiting our delicious “heart attack” food, the local Sheriff and his crew of close to a dozen locals entered the coffee shop, commandeered what I assume was their regular table, and began an extended Sunday morning coffee klatsch. The sheriff was a big robust man like Big Sam, and boy, did he like to talk. As I slowly devoured my bacon and eggs, I listened in mounting awe as the sheriff regaled his cronies with amusing tales of staking out and ultimately arresting local dope dealers way out in the woods. I suppose the deputies involved in the stakeouts were not outfitted in full Swat team regalia back in those days, but a dope dealer is a dope dealer and this sheriff took real pleasure in tracking them down and arresting them. Perhaps he too dipped into the contraband from time to time using it for illicit purposes but hey, you’ve got to do something with all of those perfectly good drugs, don’t you?
In any event, I think I have some insight into Sheriff Parker and what floats his boat. He wheels, he deals, but he doesn’t like it when his cronies squeal. Big Sam’s trial begins today.