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South Carolina attorney general Alan Wilson‘s office has confirmed the termination of a controversial prosecutor, citing improper conduct amid the perpetration of a “lesbian cyberattack” linked to her government-issued computer.
Once hailed as a “dark horse” in a competitive race for the South Carolina Senate, the name of attorney Christina Allard became synonymous with controversy after befalling untimely allegations of an adulterous affair with her longtime confidante, Kershaw County magistrate Herbert Clay Carruth III.
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PRELUDE TO DISGRACE…
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Word of the prosecutor’s forbidden romance broke during her bid for S.C. Senate District 35 when Herbert’s father-in-law, attorney Robert J. Butcher, reported their dalliance to the Office of Disciplinary Council (ODC).
According to Butcher’s filings, Allard landed at Herbert’s estate after the simultaneous abandonment of their marriages earlier this year. Come April Fool’s Day, the prosecutor filed for the Senate and began campaigning on core family values.
“I am amazed at the hubris of both Herbert Clay Carruth and Christina Allard,” wrote Butcher less than two weeks before the June 11 primaries. “I am not sure how many times it took Christina Allard to pass the bar exam, but it took Herbert Clay Carruth five occasions.”
At the zenith of Allard’s campaign, Butcher accused the prosecutor and her paramour of violating six ethical rules and judicial canons. His filings included allegations of professional misconduct and untoward extra-judicial activities, among other improprieties.
“Allard has presented herself… as a highly competent and ethical attorney who singlehandedly brought down the drug cartels,” submitted Butcher to the ODC. “She is just as responsible for knowing the Code of Judicial Conduct as she is the Rules of Professional Conduct.”
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RELATED | CHRISTINA ALLARD DENIES AFFAIR WITH COUNTY MAGISTRATE
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During an interview with FITSNews, Allard denied the existence of “anything scandalous” and maintained she and Herbert were just “friends.”
“It’s frustrating that I am in the position now to have to address these types of ridiculous claims,” Allard said at the time. “It’s so blatantly obvious that this was intended to harass and embarrass one week ahead of the primary… It must mean that I’m a threat, right?”
Butcher’s office served Allard with a subpoena during a GOP candidate forum earlier this year, and she was thusly ordered to surrender all text messages and media regarding the affair.
More on the status of that subpoena in a moment…
“I have been threatened,” proclaimed Allard after being served. “I have been extorted. I had a private investigator hired to follow me… I have been defamed. Signs calling me disgusting names have been placed around the district. That’s politics… I fight. That’s what I do.”
Allard secured 16.6 percent of the GOP primary vote across a four-way race. During her candidacy, she received donations from chief S.C. attorney general Creighton Waters, assistant U.S. attorney Matthew Ellis and other key figures.
“Birds of a feather flock together,” noted self-proclaimed Anarchist and former Kershaw County Council candidate Jeff Mattox. “Everyone in Camden knew about the affair, and you’re telling me Creighton had no idea? Bullshit… the AG sucks up the worst of the worst.”
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BLAME GAME…
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After the campaign, Allard returned to the State Grand Jury (SGJ) division of the attorney general’s office using her maiden name. Not long thereafter, she was in court contesting Butcher’s subpoena. According to a family court transcript dated October 10, 2024, Allard testified at Herbert’s divorce case – purporting to be a “nonparty.”
Her appearance before S.C. family court judge Jerrod Anderson came two weeks after the court deemed her adulterous affair with the magistrate “admitted.” The bombshell was dropped on a technicality — when the magistrate failed to recognize a discovery request within thirty days.
“I object to every subpoena that Mr. Butcher has filed requesting my personal information,” said Allard while representing herself in Carruth v. Carruth, a divorce on the grounds of adultery. “Mr. Butcher orchestrated a publicity stunt with FITSNews to have me publicly served.”
During the court’s two-and-a-half-hour hearing, Allard dismissed Butcher’s ODC complaints as “erroneous” and maintained she was the victim of a “far-roving fishing expedition.” Allard motioned that Butcher’s subpoenas be quashed and that a protective or confidentiality order be issued in its place. She then accused the attorney of mobilizing our outlet to “harass, annoy and unduly burden” her.
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RELATED | CHRISTINA ALLARD RETURNS TO ATTORNEY GENERAL’S OFFICE
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“FITSNews published an article about how I must be back at the (attorney general’s) office because my vehicle was spotted outside,” said Allard in response to our latest report. “It is, this is like nothing I have ever seen.”
After acknowledging that Herbert “technically” admitted their affair, Allard stepped aside as the magistrate’s attorney – Murry Kinard – slammed FITSNews for publishing his client’s readily available home address and motioned for the court to seal their case.
“Your Honor,” Butcher countered, “should you grant the order, I would ask that you also issue an order for Google and the South Carolina legislature to get Mr. Carruth’s address off the internet… I mean, this is outrageous that the legislature would get that.”
Anderson denied Kinard’s motion to seal the pleadings and orders in the case – and Allard’s motion to quash. He did, however, place under seal certain component of the case including financial declarations and responses to discovery. He furthermore recognized Allard as a material witness and indicated that relevant portions of Butcher’s subpoenas would be ruled upon at a later date.
“Your Honor,” added Allard, “It is ridiculous that I even have to be here.”
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THE LESBIAN OFFENSIVE…
(South Carolina Attorney General’s Office)
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From her post inside the attorney general’s office, Allard utilized state-issued technology to wage a counteroffensive against Carruth’s estranged wife. The electronic ambush took place less than two weeks after Allard’s family court appearance — as Jennifer Carruth awaited the pick up of her adolescent son from play therapy. The University of South Carolina (USC) graduate student was parked outside, completing homework for a class.
Suddenly, at 1:38 p.m., her background piano music was interrupted by an inundation of Outlook emails. She thereupon watched as her student address was subscribed to Lesbians Who Tech, Lesbian Earth, Paging Dr. Lesbian, OlderDykes, The QueerAF and others.
According to a 144-page court exhibit, she received a total of 42 confirmation emails.
As soon as the notifications settled, Butcher’s daughter reported the incident to USC and requested internet protocol (IP) data germane to the attack. It was eventually determined an off-campus device typed “Carruth” into USC’s directory at 1:33 p.m. that afternoon.
The IP address associated with the search was 167.7.37.83; within the attorney general’s office.
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? #BREAKING: Former S.C. Senate candidate Christina Allard is “no longer employed” by the office of S.C. Attorney General @AGAlanWilson due to a non-descriptive “personnel matter.”
— Andrew Fancher (@RealAndyFancher) December 17, 2024
While details surrounding her separation remain unclear, it does not appear to stem from an… pic.twitter.com/EZ9ihc0ixJ
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Zeroing in on Allard, Butcher deployed a notice of subpoena and order of deposition upon the attorney general’s office. The December 9, 2024, subpoena demanded written and electronic records confirming the prosecutor’s apparent infatuation with the LGBTQ+ community.
At the conclusion of an internal inquiry, chief deputy attorney general Jeffrey Young determined Allard’s state-issued laptop had been used to enroll Jennifer Carruth into suggestive content without her consent. Like most workplaces, the attorney general’s office expressly prohibits such conduct.
Young furthermore discovered that during Allard’s infraction, she accessed “multiple” non-work related websites, including landing pages for Wella, Redken, SalonBiz, Nykaa, Vizio, Ann Taylor, Martha Stewart, Kohls, Sherwin-Williams, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
Three days after Butcher’s subpoena, office representatives convened with Allard and discussed the aforementioned findings. Effectively exposed, she admitted to pulling Jennifer’s student email from USC and visiting over 150 different web pages that day.
“However,” noted Young, in a letter provided under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), “(Allard) claimed the enrollments were done outside of office hours.”
“This statement is inconsistent with the findings,” Young’s letter concluded, thus advising Allard “we will not be continuing our working relationship.”
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State employees have provided @FITSNews with #URL history pulled from the government laptop of a former Assistant S.C. Attorney General.
— Andrew Fancher (@RealAndyFancher) December 23, 2024
In addition to viewing myriad lesbian websites on government time, Christina Allard (R) appears to have enjoyed @WellaHairUSA, @Redken5thAve,… pic.twitter.com/NRPUx9TPiP
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Allard was terminated for equipment misuse and unbecoming employee conduct.
Despite innumerable requests for comment from the attorney general’s office, sources later reached out to FITSNews’ founding editor Will Folks lamenting Allard’s lack of judgement – but claiming she was the victim of retribution in a domestic matter.
“This is one more targeted hit by (Butcher) meant to harass and embarrass Allard,” one of these sources noted. “He has taken his representation of his daughter in her divorce case extremely personally. He has done this for months, he has done this publicly, he has done this unethically, and he has been using (FITSNews) as his own personal mouthpiece. He has intentionally turned a family court case involving the custody of his own grandchild into a circus.”
The sources further noted “all ethics complaints (against Allard) have since been dismissed by ODC and she has no pending ethics complaints against her.”
FITSNews is in the process of attempting to corroborate these assertions.
The source further claimed the complaints were filed with “the goal of harassing and embarrassing” Allard and as “a tool to publicly shame her.”
The source also claimed the witnesses cited in the ethics complaints against Allard were “family members or (Butcher’s) paralegal who is now facing criminal charges.”
“There are no third-party or disinterested witnesses in any of this,” one of the sources noted.
This story may be updated.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
(Dynal Nolan/FITSNews)
Andrew Fancher is a Lone Star Emmy award-winning journalist from Dallas, Texas. Cut from a bloodline of outlaws and lawmen alike, he was the first of his family to graduate college which was accomplished with honors. Got a story idea or news tip for Andy? Email him directly and connect with him socially across Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
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4 comments
Bring back the Salem Witch trials! Meanwhile, how about that Matt Gaetz…
But the attached transcript says the judge granted the order to seal? Did you even read the transcript? Page 96 line 5.
I noted on a Kershaw County website that Mr Carruth does not seem to be listed as a Magistrate, now. Having sat in on a couple of court sessions he presided over, I was impressed with how cordial and personable he was. I did not see the “I am God and you are nothing” that so many judges like to exhibit these days. I hope things go well for him.
Reminds me of when the head public defender in the 9th Circuit (Ashley Pennington) for years allowed all of his employees in that office to use their government computers for tons of NON-Government related PERSONAL matters. Even one of that office’s employees once mentioned in a letter (email) that it was ok to misuse government equipment like that.
Pennington now works in private practice.