Public Records Undercut Implication Targeting S.C. Attorney General

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by WILL FOLKS

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A bombshell blog post this week suggested South Carolina’s top prosecutor – and the frontrunner to become its next governor – had a hidden criminal past in neighboring North Carolina, a potentially election-upending claim. However, underlying documents cited in the seismic allegation pointed not to S.C. attorney general Alan Wilson, but to a different individual entirely.

The blog post, published by activist writer Lee Granade on Monday (February 2, 2026), suggested a 1992 Pasquotank County, North Carolina charge involving a defendant named “Michael Wilson” could conceivably implicate the Palmetto State politician – whose full name is Michael Alan McCrory Wilson.

According to Granade, the defendant in the North Carolina case had the same date of birth as the South Carolina attorney general (and current 2026 gubernatorial frontrunner) – making her insinuation he was hiding a criminal past from voters “plausible.”

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“Wilson wants to be governor, and voters want/need to vet candidates,” Granade wrote. “If this is/was AG Wilson, did he disclose this indiscretion to the State Bar or did he LIE to them? Does Wilson use several aliases to help avoid uncovering his past? Since the S.C. State Bar requires applicants be of ‘good moral character,’ shouldn’t such a charge have been disclosed at the time of joining?”

Not only that, Granade editorialized that this potential hidden criminal record was tied to allegations that Wilson’s office has not been effective in holding violent criminals accountable.

“Such a history would certainly explain the AG’s softness on crime,” Granade wrote.

And perhaps it would have… had the claim been accurate.

According to a review of the primary records tied to the Pasquotank County case — including county birth indexes, court records, and associated identity data — the defendant is not the South Carolina attorney general, but rather another man with a similar name who has longstanding North Carolina ties.

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PAPER TRAIL THAT TELLS A DIFFERENT STORY…

Granade’s post points to a 1991 incident in Elizabeth City, N.C. – and a subsequent 1992 filing – related to a charge of injury to personal property. Court records listed the defendant as Michael Wilson, born in July 1973 in Pasquotank County, with the charge classified as a misdemeanor and ultimately dismissed without leave by the district attorney in 1992.

Standing alone, that index entry highlights a legitimate – albeit dismissed case. But index entries are only the starting point for identity verification, not the finish line.

When the underlying identity records (.pdf) connected to that same defendant were reviewed, they revealed the defendant in the case as Michael Ward Wilson – not Michael Alan McCrory Wilson. They also showed different lineages and, in Michael Ward Wilson’s case, a North Carolina family record. Supporting materials — including a county birth index and related database entries — consistently pointed to the same North Carolina resident, with name variants such as Michael Ward Wilson and Mike Ward Wilson, a North Carolina birth registration and a Social Security number issued in North Carolina. Michael Ward Wilson also had an address history in the Elizabeth City area – and property records tied one of those addresses to a home owned by his parents.

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RELATED | S.C. TOP PROSECUTOR FALSELY ACCUSED OF BILKING CRIME VICTIMS

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Taken together, these identifiers line up with each other – and more importantly, do not match South Carolina’s attorney general.

This case provides a classic example of why similar names and similar birth years are not enough to establish identity in public record searches. Court databases routinely contain multiple individuals with overlapping names and birthdates. Reliable attribution typically requires multiple matching data points — such as full middle name, parent identifiers, places of birth, and long-term address histories — not just a shared first and last name and birth date.

In this instance, the middle name, family identifiers, and geographic record trail all point to a different individual in North Carolina.

This is not the first time Granade has published a high-profile allegation about Wilson based on incomplete or inaccurate information. In 2024, she falsely accused the attorney general of improperly using taxpayer and crime-victim funds to attend Donald Trump’s high-profile trial in New York City. Itemized finance records later showed the travel expenses were paid from campaign funds — not state accounts — and that office credit card payment dates had been misread as travel expenditures.

While the North Carolina case Granade cites does exist, the identity attribution is not supported by the records attached to it. Those records consistently identify a different Michael Wilson — with a different middle name, different family identifiers, and a North Carolina record trail — whose misdemeanor charge was dismissed more than three decades ago.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…

Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.

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