SLED investigation into alleged child abuse against Sanford closed

A case investigating allegations of child abuse against Rep. Mark Sanford in 2016 has been closed, officials confirmed on Friday.

The Island Packet reported at the time of the incident that the South Carolina Republican’s niece was allegedly injured at Coosaw Plantation, the Sanford family’s farm in Beaufort County.

A Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office report includes scant details and is redacted. It says that, on June 18, 2016, an incident occurred on a dock involving Sanford and the girl that resulted in unspecified injuries. The Sheriff’s Office had forwarded its report to the S.C. Law Enforcement Division, which opened a preliminary inquiry.

SLED spokesman Thom Berry confirmed that the case was closed.

Sanford issued a statement on Friday that said, “I respect the fact that authorities had to thoroughly investigate this issue and stand by what my brother said last July.”

John Sanford of Beaufort, who is Mark Sanford’s brother and the girl’s father, issued a statement about the incident in July 2016.

“I am sorry that because my brother is a public figure he is being swept into allegations that are not true,” John Sanford wrote. “To be clear, any suggestion that my brother hurt my daughter’s foot — or would harm my children in any way — is absolutely wrong.”

FITSnews, a Columbia-based blog, reported that a pediatrician allegedly told the girl’s mother he would report the injury to authorities if she did not.

Mark Sanford and his siblings spent much of their childhood at Coosaw Plantation in northern Beaufort County that spans about 1,600 acres and was purchased by their father in the 1960s.

The property was also the site of an accidental drowning in 2011. Three years later, John Sanford and his wife, Julia, settled a lawsuit with the family of the 6-year-old victim, who drowned at a birthday party the couple was hosting.

This story was originally published December 15, 2017 at 3:50 PM with the headline "SLED investigation into alleged child abuse against Sanford closed."