Sheriff: Beaufort County official, inmate and jailers made “perfect storm” of mistakes
As a month-long and widespread investigation spurring from a selfie taken from a Beaufort County jail cell continues into its final stage, it is unlikely that criminal charges will follow for one of the county’s elected officials.
In a wide-ranging question and answer session Friday afternoon, Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner, along with the department’s lawyer Daniel Gourley, took questions from reporters about the ongoing month-long investigation that started after a Beaufort County councilman visited the county’s detention center on Aug. 20.
Councilman Tom Reitz, who represents the southern half of Hilton Head Island, visited Calvin “Skip” Hoagland — a local government critic and part-time resident — while he was serving time in the jail. It was during the 40-minute visit that Reitz, who brought two cellphones through security and into the facility, and snapped a photo in Hoagland’s jail cell.
Hoagland had asked the councilman to come and see the jail’s conditions firsthand and to help address his concerns about not having access to medication, Tanner said.
The investigation — which started after County Council Chair Alice Howard and Vice Chair Tab Tabernik brought the photo to law enforcement’s attention — has since widened to include broader concerns about jail operations, and possible ethical violations. But for now, criminal charges are unlikely.
Gourley clarified that, under state law, it is illegal to “furnish,” or bring contraband to, an inmate in a county jail. It is also illegal to attempt to do so. To charge someone under this statute in South Carolina, there has to be clear evidence that the visitor intended to give the inmate the contraband.
Even though a cellphone is “absolutely contraband,” Gourley said, there has not been enough evidence found that Reitz intended to give Hoagland the phone. For this reason, investigators have not yet found probable cause to bring forward a contraband charge related to the cellphones, he said.
One of the most time-consuming parts of the investigation, Tanner said, has been whether the councilman brought medication into the facility for the inmate. Investigators have not been able to determine that this took place.
Tanner described the situation in the jail as a “perfect storm” of poor decision-making from the inmate, the councilman and facility staff who allowed the councilman to enter with contraband, roam throughout low-security areas and meet with Hoagland in an interview room typically reserved for meetings between inmates and their lawyers. What has been revealed throughout the probe is “disturbing and concerning,” Tanner said.
“He [Reitz] was able to access to jail in a way that no one else could,” Tanner said. “Not an attorney, not anyone else.”
The sheriff’s department has worked alongside the South Carolina Department of Corrections to review the case. Once complete, the findings will likely be sent to the state’s Ethics Commission for review, Tanner said.
Since the county does not have an open investigation into the jail’s conditions, it would be “inappropriate” under the state’s ethics act for individual council members to independently look into these conditions, Gourley said.
Additionally, during at least one of the 129 phone calls Hoagland made from detention center phones, Hoagland made Reitz offers for campaign donations in exchange for the council members to come and see the jail’s conditions, Tanner said. Reitz told Hoagland that donations were not necessary, and that he would simply be visiting a friend, Gourley said.
“The past ten days have been some of the hardest my family and I have faced,” Reitz wrote in a message posted to social media of Sept. 12 after the launch of the investigation.
“Being a Beaufort County Council member isn’t just a title for me — it’s part of who I am. Each morning, I wake up thinking about how I can best show up for you, my neighbors and constituents, and do the good work government should do,” Reitz wrote.
Reached by phone Friday, Reitz said that he had just received his phones back after they have been with law enforcement since Sept. 4. He said that he is looking forward to going “full steam ahead to take care of the people” once the situation is behind them.
During a recent council meeting, several community members spoke to Reitz’s integrity on the council.
“The word integrity defines Tom,” said Mike Tunner, who described Reitz as a person of “impeccable character without a malicious bone in his body.”
