Attorney General Alan Wilson announces three former SC Corrections officers plead guilty & are sentenced

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) – South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced that former South Carolina Department of Corrections employee Kevin Leroy Howard pleaded guilty Thursday to trafficking methamphetamines, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, misconduct in office, and providing contraband to inmates.

Circuit Judge J. Derham Cole sentenced Howard, 37, to a total of four years in prison – three years for the drug charges and an additional year for the misconduct and contraband charges, to run consecutively.

Howard was a correctional officer at Tyger River Correctional Institution when he was arrested in July 2023 after attempting to bring cylinders filled with drugs into the institution concealed in his dinner.

The case was prosecuted by SCDC Special Assistant Attorney General Margaret Scott and was investigated by SCDC Special Agent Trevor Sherbert.

In a separate case, two other former Corrections officers also pleaded guilty and were sentenced as part of the State Grand Jury’s “Gatekeeper” investigation.

Dontai D. Parks, former Lieutenant at McCormick Correctional Institution, and Brandon C. Taylor, former Sergeant at McCormick Correctional Institution, pleaded guilty to misconduct in office. Circuit Judge Walton McLeod sentenced both men to seven years in prison, suspended upon serving five years of probation. Both men must also submit letters to the SC Criminal Justice Academy forbidding them from ever seeking employment as a law enforcement officer.

Both were involved in allowing contraband to enter the institution. 

The South Carolina Attorney General’s Office State Grand Jury Division is prosecuting the case with assistance from the SCDC Criminal Prosecution Division as well as the SCDC Office of Inspector General and SLED.