Eight months ago, this news outlet covered the dramatic conclusion of a criminal case involving Harold Worley Jr. – the son of Horry county, South Carolina councilman Harold Worley. The younger Worley was facing twenty-five years behind bars on a trio of charges – criminal sexual conduct, criminal solicitation of a minor and the unlawful neglect of a child.
After Worley rolled the dice and rejected a deal that would have resulted in him pleading guilty to a lesser charge, an Horry county jury found him not guilty of the three charges filed against him.
Worley’s case drew significant local interest. It also attracted statewide interest given that his ex-wife – Meredith Bauer – is married to former S.C. lieutenant governor André Bauer.
While Worley was acquitted on the criminal charges filed against him, as we noted in our coverage at the time “our guess is we have not seen the end of the family court component of this ongoing soap opera.”
Those words proved prescient …
A final order in Worley’s domestic case against Meredith Bauer was issued on November 13, 2019 by S.C. family court judge Timothy Pogue.
Pogue’s ruling awarded sole custody of the couple’s three children to Meredith Bauer and “permanently restrained” Worley from having “any contact whatsoever with the children.” It further required Worley to “successfully complete clarification therapy and extended therapeutic counseling prior to having any supervised or unsupervised visitation with the children.”
Worley was also required to pay attorneys’ fees and other costs related to the action – which Pogue referred to in one section of his blistering ruling as “frivolous.”
Wait … wasn’t Worley found not guilty?
Yes … but …
It turns out this custody order is just the beginning of the latest legal entanglements involving Bauer and Worley. Another case is making its way through the S.C. fifteenth judicial circuit involving this erstwhile couple – one that has reignited tensions and revived the original child sex abuse allegations against the influential councilman’s son.
(Click to view)
(Via: Provided)
According to a defamation lawsuit brought against Bauer (above) by Worley in early September, the criminal charges filed against him by the office of S.C. attorney general Alan Wilson were “the result of false and misleading statements” made by Bauer as well as “a fabricated photograph produced by (her) … a sinister and illegal act.”
Worley further alleged that Bauer made the child sex abuse claims against him “in an effort to gain leverage regarding child custody in the divorce proceeding.”
“(Bauer)’s actions were part and parcel of a scheme of parental alienation, fraud, abuse of process, slander and malicious prosecution,” Worley’s lawsuit (.pdf) alleged.
Worley is seeking a jury trial in the hopes of obtaining “actual and punitive damages in an amount to be calculated by the trier of the facts.”
Bauer’s response? In a pleading (.pdf) submitted on November 27, 2019 – the day before Thanksgiving – her attorneys argued for the dismissal of the case while seeking damages from Worley as part of a counterclaim. Specifically, the counterclaim alleges Worley to be in violation of the family court order enjoining both parents from airing issues related to the case on social media.
Bauer’s pleading makes repeated references to Pogue’s family court order – an unflinching excoriation of Worley which contains graphic details of the disturbing behavior he allegedly committed involving his minor children. Additionally, the order accuses Worley of using the family court system “as a way to obtain discovery for use in (his) criminal case.”
It also addresses information from Worley’s psychological evaluation – which “(did) not come out at the criminal trial.”
Specifically, the psychologist used by Worley as an expert witness actually “opined that based upon a reasonable degree of certainty in the field of psychology, it is most probable that the incidents of abuse described by (Worley’s) children most likely did occur as they are consistent with (Worley’s) psychological profile,” according to the custody order.
This news outlet is not going to delve into the graphic nature of the allegations against Worley. They are included in the copy of the family court order (below) which was filed as an amendment to Bauer’s response to his defamation lawsuit against her.
Given the circumstances, we are frankly surprised that Worley is engaging in further litigiousness involving Bauer – although it is certainly his prerogative to do so.
Based on the contents of this family court order, however, it certainly appears as though he was exceedingly fortunate to have escaped criminal conviction on the charges brought against him.
-FITSNews
WEB EXTRA: FAMILY COURT ORDER
(Via: S.C. Fifteenth Judicial Circuit)
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1 comment
If they gave out medals for the most horrifying, most morally bankrupt abuse of the court system, this case makes the podium every time.
Having reviewed the case files, I am happy to go on record stating Andre and Meredith Bauer have committed crimes not only against Harold Worley, Jr., but crimes against humanity.
Truly, I have never seen a case so disgustingly corrupt .
After wading through the muddy swamp of lies entered into court record, one thing is clear the two who perpetrated this egregious fraud, Meredith and Andre Bauer, are narcissists who deserve each other.
However sophomoric Harold Worley, Jr. may have been, it did not warrant termination of parental rights. Given the harm to children that goes unchecked in the family courts (under these same judges) every day, the prosecution of Harold Worley, Jr. here is especially malignant.
Meredith Bauer and Andre Bauer used corrupt courts to rob a father of his children for their own selfish reasons. They robbed grandparents of grandchildren. They weaponized a court meant to protect the best interests of children. By all appearances, this case had as much to do with harming Harold Worley Jr.’s father, Harold Worley, Sr. and enriching attorneys and their ilk, as it did enriching Meredith Bauer and and Andre Bauer personally.
Ordering a litigant to pay someone else’s attorney fees because their own father can afford it, is utterly insane. The fact that they got away with this fraud should terrify every American citizen. Judge Timothy Pogue effectively terminated Mr. Worley’s parental rights. I hope he is held accountable, if not in this life, then the next.
The Usual Horry County suspects:
George Hearne, Esq.
Russell Hall, GAL
Dr. Davis Henderson
Court Reporter Stacy Sheppard (now Eddings)
Judge Melissa Buckhannon
Judge Timothy Pogue
plus
Alexander Blair Cash, Esq. of Rosen and Hagood
SC Attorney General Alan Wilson (who weaponized the court through a fraudulent criminal prosecution)
Truly one of the most disgusting cases of abuse of the system I have every reviewed.
~ Ginger Dunn
Note: I have no connection to Harold Worley or the Bauers, but I recognize court fraud. I merely state the fact that this case meets 100% of the criteria for fraud upon the court(s).