COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has suspended a South Carolina county councilmember who's accused of sex crimes involving underage victims.
McMaster issued an order suspending 49-year-old Kerry Trent Kinard. The governor said he's suspended until he's either convicted or acquitted. However, Kinard only had about a month left to go in his term, so it would be essentially impossible for the case to be resolved before then.
Kinard is charged with criminal sexual conduct with a minor first degree, attempted criminal sexual conduct with a minor, two counts of criminal solicitation of a minor, assault and battery first degree, and two counts of a dissemination of obscene material.
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division filed the charges against Kinard back in late September.
A SLED affidavit states that on September 17, 2020, Kinard inappropriately touched an underage girl through her underwear. The alleged incident happened in the town of Bamberg. It also said he communicated with the girl to try and convince her to have sexual activity with him and claims he showed the victim pornography.
A separate warrant says Kinard attempted to have sex with a teenage girl between the years of 2016 and 2017. It's not clear from the warrants if this is the same victim as in the 2020 incident.
SLED also claims that between the years of 2017 and 2019, Kinard communicated with an underage boy about having sex with him.
Finally, another affidavit states that back between 2008 and 2010, Kinard placed his hands down a young boy's pants and touched him inappropriately. It's unclear if that victim is a separate victim from the other incident involving a male.
Kinard is a former chairman of the Bamberg County Council but left that post in 2019. He was defeated in his reelection bid in a primary in June, according to online records from the state election commission.
