BLYTHEWOOD – Last week five more indictments for public corruption were handed down to the woman Mayor Sloan Griffin hired last year to be the Town’s Deputy Administrator at an annual salary of $90,000.
Former Williamsburg County Supervisor Tiffany Cooks was already under criminal investigation by SLED (South Carolina Enforcement Division) when Griffin hired her last Nov. 7, 2024, to fill a job she had not applied for and that was not funded in the budget by council.
After The Voice published information about her criminal investigation, Cooks decided not to take the job.
In a public Facebook post on Dec. 5, 2024, Griffin criticized his fellow council members and the media for publicizing Cooks’ investigation, saying their claims were unfounded.
“Dr. Cooks, along with her family, friends, and church family, endured unwarranted suffering due to claims made by certain members of the Council and the media.” Griffin said those “baseless accusations created an atmosphere of judgment and speculation.”
To that end, Griffin continued over the next three months to fight to rehire Cooks, even requesting an attorney general’s opinion and issuing Executive order #3 to force her reinstatement (with back pay) to the position.
Cooks even attended a town council meeting during that time.
Griffin’s efforts to rehire Cooks were eventually blocked three months later, after the other four councilmembers won a lawsuit for temporary and permanent injunctions against Griffin’s executive order to re-hire Cooks. Cooks was indicted by the Attorney General’s office on March 17, charging her with public corruption that included embezzlement and money laundering in a previous job as Williamsburg County Supervisor.
Last week, Cooks was indicted on more charges of public corruption associated with her Williamsburg County job, bringing the total indictments to 30. The investigation is ongoing.
