This Beaufort County school board candidate was caught twice with marijuana, reports say

A Beaufort County Board of Education candidate was charged twice in the last four years with possession of marijuana, according to online records.

Background checks completed by The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette through South Carolina Law Enforcement Division for all 20 Beaufort County school board candidates revealed that Natasha Robinson, 43, was the only candidate who has faced criminal charges in the last 30 years.

Robinson, who is running for the school board’s District 3 seat, was charged in April 2014 and March 2016 for misdemeanor possession of marijuana.

The Port Royal Police Department said that the 2014 case was expunged. But Robinson was convicted and fined in 2016.

According to a report from the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, Robinson was pulled over on March 22, 2016, for speeding when deputies discovered a marijuana and paraphernalia inside her vehicle.

When asked about the charges Wednesday, Robinson said, “I’m always honest, so I’m not going to deny it.”

Robinson said she ruptured a joint while serving time in the military, and after she returned home, she used marijuana to self-medicate.

“I did whatever I had to do to get my health back,” she said.

Robinson is a performing artist who has danced and recited poetry at various Lowcountry festivals and schools within the Beaufort County School District for the last eight years.

She is running against William Smith, Buryl Sumpter and incumbent Cynthia Gregory-Smalls for District 3, which comprises Lady’s Island, St. Helena Island and parts of Beaufort.

Robinson is the only candidate of the four who has not previously run for the county’s school board.

“The vote is on the people, and if they feel that something I did three, four, five years ago affects anything today, I mean it’s their right to choose. But I know it doesn’t affect me at all.”

This story was originally published October 31, 2018 at 5:39 PM.