SC

Sheriff James Metts Cops A Plea Deal

SOURCES: LONGTIME LAWMAN LIKELY TO AVOID JAIL TIME … ON CURRENT CHARGES By FITSNEWS  ||  Sources at the U.S. Department of Justice (USDOJ) tell FITS the groundwork is being laid for a plea agreement in the bribery case of former Lexington County (S.C.) Sheriff James Metts. It’s not clear whether…

SOURCES: LONGTIME LAWMAN LIKELY TO AVOID JAIL TIME … ON CURRENT CHARGES

By FITSNEWS  ||  Sources at the U.S. Department of Justice (USDOJ) tell FITS the groundwork is being laid for a plea agreement in the bribery case of former Lexington County (S.C.) Sheriff James Metts.

It’s not clear whether the deal will enable the 68-year-old lawman to avoid jail time, but he is expected to enter a guilty plea this week in response to the first round of charges against him.

The source also confirmed that whatever the outcome of this case, law enforcement is “not done with Sheriff Metts.”

The longest-serving Sheriff in the Palmetto State, Metts was indicted in June by federal authorities for accepting bribes in exchange for using “his position, power, and influence as Sheriff to interfere with the proper identification and processing of certain illegal aliens detained at the Lexington.”

Metts pleaded not guilty to the charges – which could land him in prison for up to ten years if convicted.

Four other individuals have been indicted by S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson for their roles in the “Lexington Ring,” a cabal of crooked cops and corrupt politicians that was relentlessly exposed in 2012-13 by this website.

Meanwhile five of Metts’ subordinates were fired from their posts in the aftermath of the indictment.

For those of you new to this site, members of the “Lexington Ring” have been accused of running an illegal video poker operation based out of Lexington County, S.C.

Among those indicted?  Former South Congaree police chief Jason Amodio, who was specifically accused of accepting payment “in return for seized gaming machines.”

FITS was the first media outlet in the state to report on a joint state-federal raid of Amodio’s offices in May 2013 – noting that Amodio was one of the corrupt lawmen mentioned by Frazier in the audio recordings as providing protection for video poker machines run by the “Ring.”

Metts will appear before U.S. district court judge Terry Wooten at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday – two weeks after his attorneys failed to get U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles to drop some of the charges against him.

Wooten scheduled Metts’ trial for January 12, 2015.

Assuming Metts resolves the current charges against him, sources tell FITS “another shoe is dropping” in the case.

“More is coming out,” our source said, although he declined to specify the nature of the new allegations and how they specifically involved Metts.

***

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38 comments

Rethuglican December 15, 2014 at 10:03 pm

Caption time: “Do you have one like this in Orange…XL?”

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jimlewisowb December 16, 2014 at 9:11 am

More like do you have this one in XXXL and is it waterproof

After house arrest I will be on work release – I will be a dishwasher down at San Jose

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Si Senor December 16, 2014 at 9:24 am

lol…if he’d have taken his bribe via San Jose free meals he probably wouldn’t have been in this predicament and would have received a lion’s share by the looks of his rotundity.

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euwe max December 15, 2014 at 10:15 pm

His part looks like it was put there by Michael Myers.

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EREY December 15, 2014 at 10:16 pm

Will believe more is going to come out when I see it. We have been told time and time again there would be indictments and crackdown on the “cabal” for almost two years now. All they seem to have are Metts and Danny Frazier. No bigger fish to be caught in the corrupt Lexington County cesspool?

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It is what it is December 16, 2014 at 8:39 am

Similar to the outright admission of torture by the Federal gov’t, there will be no serious repercussions for those involved.

Gov’t holding itself accountable is a joke for the most part. Those in it do what they want and get away with it(or off with a light slap on the wrist) 95% of the time.

The law is for the little people, those not working in gov’t.

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Old RC lawyer December 15, 2014 at 10:47 pm

The Feds had Jakie Knotts on all sorts of things, but he lost to that girl. They no longer cared. The politics behind this mess with Bill Nettles, Toal servant, is pathetic. Back to my re-runs of Golden Girls.

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Really? December 16, 2014 at 12:10 am

That girl? The damn state has been better off since that girl beat his fat butt!

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Old RC lawyer December 16, 2014 at 9:00 am

I agree, but I still recall Jakie calling her “that girl.”

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Max December 16, 2014 at 1:47 am

Rumors have circulated for over two years that Stace Day and Jamie Lucas provided law enforcement evidence and information of corruption with these lexington politicians 10 years before having to go public with the audio tapes of Danny Frazier because law enforcement was so connected to these people. It is believed that as a result of them giving law enforcement evidence of corruption for so long and they leaking this information back to Metts, Frazier, and Knotts they were targeted and arrested for crimes they did not commit to discredit them and the information they were providing law enforcement. Law enforcement after charging Day and Lucas provided protection for these corrupt politicians to continue to work without punity until law enforcement could not control Day or Lucas anymore through fear of being retaliated against them again and released the audio tapes to the media. Even then it took law enforcement over two years to bring any charges on metts and frazier and Amodio. Personally I thank Day, Lucas, the public and media for refusing to allow corrupt law enforcement, Metts and Frazier from continuing to victimize them or anyone else that dares to stand against their corrupt control in lexington.

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you know me December 16, 2014 at 12:17 pm

Stace has long deserved to be sheriff. They framed the wrong guy.

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GrandTango December 16, 2014 at 6:30 am

LMAO: “Sources at the U.S. Department of Justice (USDOJ) tell FITS (Metts)….is expected to enter a guilty plea this week”…..

If you would have read The State newspaper Saturday…It would have told you 3 days ago…

If anybody believes this idiot…that’s on you….

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Smirks December 16, 2014 at 8:52 am

If you would’ve read SCPD three days ago…

Haha, just kidding, no one reads that garbage.

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mamatiger92 December 16, 2014 at 9:32 am

Dear Santa,

Please bring GT a thesaurus and a copy of Strunk & White’s Elements of Style for Christmas. We are hoping for a “LMAO-free” 2015.

Thanks in advance,
FITS Readers

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Your Mom's Old Panties December 16, 2014 at 10:42 am

So, you haven’t put anything new on your piece of shit blog in a week…out of ideas already or did you face the fact you really have nothing of value to say?

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GrandTango December 16, 2014 at 11:32 am

Thank you so much for reading. I take ALL feedback seriously. I’ll check on that…

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pogo2 December 16, 2014 at 11:38 am

lol… your site has always had great articles on many issues. I know you posted you have another ‘project’ in the works? Keep us informed.

Everybody on here reads it, they just won’t tell ya.

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Haha December 16, 2014 at 12:03 pm

Nobody reads it, but you. Judging by how you believe SC is some beacon of hope, and opportunity in your above post. I question your judgement

piggy needs a donut December 16, 2014 at 6:45 am

Please let the pig oink and tell all. I bet at least one person running for sheriff now would be named and should be. Any guesses

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Jackie Chiles December 16, 2014 at 9:07 am

There’s a reason most people plead guilty to federal charges.

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Buz Martin December 16, 2014 at 11:01 am

The fact that the feds got ’em dead to rights?

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Buz Martin December 16, 2014 at 10:59 am

I have some disagreements with Will on certain issues. But nobody can deny that he has been the first out of the box on this story, and on several others related to corruption. Along with SCPC’s The Nerve, that makes this blog indispensable to those who want much more for SC than for it to be the shit-hole of the nation.

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pogo2 December 16, 2014 at 11:23 am

What a shame you feel that way about SC? A ‘shit-hole’? My experience has been that it is a beautiful state from the mountains to its beautiful beaches.Good, decent people that are friendly and love their sports and music.

Crawl out of the sewer sometime and try and experience all SC has to offer-you might be surprised that not everyone is a miserable, hateful SOB like you.

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Buz is right December 16, 2014 at 11:59 am

SC is a shit-hole, with shitty people set in shitty ways, terrible politicians, dirty beaches, terrible roads, etc. It COULD be better if the residents pulled their heads out of their asses and elected better politicians to start.

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Taos December 16, 2014 at 1:52 pm

Perhaps it would be better if folks such as yourself just left… just saying

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Buz Martin December 16, 2014 at 1:53 pm

I, personally, have no reason or desire to leave. I’ve probably been here way longer than you, and my roots go back many centuries (including the Indians who married my Euro ancestors, who themselves were here 200 years ago and more. And your opinion on any and all of that does not mean shit.

Buz is right December 16, 2014 at 2:05 pm

Wrong. I’ve already left. Is it any better??

Buz Martin December 16, 2014 at 1:53 pm

Nowhere did I say the state is not beautiful. Nowhere did I say there are not great people here, great sports, great music. Your purpose is to twist what I say in to what you want it to mean, in order to attack me. Damned few are buying it, in case you haven’t noticed. It is a political shithole, full of the shit that is corruption and graft. This results in widespread poverty, ignorance and class/racial hatred that is hard to heal. But you know that. Asshole.

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Taos December 16, 2014 at 2:10 pm

200 years or more? Sorry, my roots run deeper and anyway, though I’m no fan of most of the political crowd, I’ve never – nor would I ever – bash my home state… after all, we’ve got the rest of this nation’s “brilliant, enlightened, progressive” crowd beating us up daily, therefore, I figure they don’t need my help… but perhaps, you feel they need your help, so seriously, have at it….

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Buz is right December 16, 2014 at 2:23 pm

It’s not about bashing, or beating up. It’s downright embarrassing at times, for out of state people to see our ineptitude while in-state residents fail to see or acknowledge much less demand accountability, or change for the better. However, if some shit goes down in Washington that we don’t like we’re ready to rally against the feds, and spend money we don’t have to fight lost causes.

Buz Martin December 16, 2014 at 2:53 pm

/// 200 years or more? Sorry, my roots run deeper The “white” ///

Sorry your reading comprehension skills don’t. The “white” ones from Europe go back 200 years or more in Horry County alone, some of them more in SC — the Indians perhaps thousands. There is no way to know for sure. I’m certain they go back thousands of years in the US, anyway, and at least back to the 16th Century in SC. But this is just to quibble.

True enlightenment does not require one to be a liberal, conservative, progressive, libertarian, moderate, white, black Indian, mixed-blood, “blue-blood” or any of that. It’s about personal evolution. Try is some time.

Buz Martin December 16, 2014 at 3:02 pm

btw, many of my ancestors had land grants from The Crown, etc. It’s a known historical fact that there were lots of settlers/pioneers who got them, largely out of Virginia, in the frontier land of South Carolina. Well over half of them had taken Indian wives (sometimes more than one) before they got here, and some took Indian wives AFTER they got here. “County marriages” they were called. This was also true of the Indian Agents, Indian Traders, Surveyors and traveling preachers — a great percentage of whom were of “mixed blood” when they arrived in the colony of Caroline. That’s why I laugh when I hear people talking about the right of “white people” being trampled on in the state. There is no such thing, unless you come from pure Nordic stock that moved here right off the boat and has practiced insest for all these generations. Or come from a clan of albinos.

pogo2 December 16, 2014 at 5:17 pm

You are right. I apologize for every mean thing I said about you. I’m just a dumb socket puppet account posting under fake names LMAO. :-)

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Buz Martin December 16, 2014 at 9:06 pm

Despite the fact that you ain’t sorry for shit, those are the truest words I’ve ever seen in a message from you.

Nimrata December 16, 2014 at 12:24 pm

It’s a great day in South Carolina. If you’re a crooked politician

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James Fleming Jr December 16, 2014 at 1:39 pm

Yes and these folks were out there socking it to average citizens. Crooked cops should be put behind bars for a good stretch. They thumb their noses at law abiding citizens and those who make minor mistakes!

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TSIB December 16, 2014 at 1:47 pm

It’s disturbing that federal law enforcement personnel would leak so freely to an anti-government blog.

Although, in all fairness, this blog’s anti-government stance is pretty situational.

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Bible Thumper December 16, 2014 at 4:26 pm

I wonder if the little girl with the big brown eyes reflected in the mirror ever got the pink coat she is obviously is longing for.

Reply

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