ROTTEN: Allegations of theft and corruption surround fmr. Pageland Chamber of Commerce president

Watch part two of ‘ROTTEN’ below

PAGELAND, S.C. ( QUEEN CITY NEWS ) – You couldn’t tell it from the outside, but for the past year, the Pageland Chamber of Commerce building was a war zone. That war turned into a civil lawsuit last year, captioned Foard v. Pageland Chamber of Commerce.

In December 2023, Ethan Foard filed a lawsuit, asking the Chesterfield County courts to rip apart whatever’s left of the Pageland Chamber, a nonprofit with a mission to promote Pageland and its businesses.

Foard is a Pageland businessman who was a member of the Chamber when he sought the judicial dissolution after Chamber president Timothy Griffin resigned in August 2023. Foard said the board of directors had also disbanded by late 2023.

The war was—and is—between Ethan Foard and Timothy Griffin. Foard said he’d grown suspicious of the chamber’s finances and, in late spring, started questioning cash transactions between Griffin and vendors who set up shop during the Watermelon Festival, the town’s annual tourist draw. The vendors and the Chamber share in the revenues from amusement rides and the Chamber sells a truckload of T-shirts from the summer tradition.

Watch the final of ‘ROTTEN’ below

In June 2023, Foard began demanding board meeting minutes, financials, the nonprofit’s IRS 990 filings, and accounting from Griffin in writing and in person. Those demands led to recorded phone calls with Griffin that revealed the rift—more like a canyon—that ended the friendship between the men.

The Chamber and Griffin are now under a S.C. Law Enforcement Division investigation. The Chamber has now sued its former president. And Timothy Griffin has moved halfway across the country.

READ: Chehalis, WA police reports on the 1989 American Red Cross theft prosecution of its former Executive Director, Timothy Aldridge-Deane, now known as Timothy Griffin:

Our investigation has uncovered a 35-year-old arrest warrant out of Chehalis, Washington, for Timothy Griffin, who was known as Timothy Aldridge-Deane back then. The allegations against Griffin in Pageland mirror the theft case out of Washington state.

Griffin pleaded guilty to felony theft from his tenure as the Executive Director of the Lewis County, Washington, chapter of the American Red Cross. Griffin’s boss accused him of forging checks, and an internal audit showed he used Red Cross checks to pay his own rent, utilities, child support, phone bill, purchase furniture, and multiple other expenditures marked as “unknown” in the case file.

Griffin also took the Red Cross’ Cadillac and pleaded guilty to one count of “Taking a Motor Vehicle Without Permission,” which carried a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.

This series of photographs depicts the 1979 Cadillac the Lewis County, WA, Red Cross Chapter told Chehalis Police that Timothy Griffin stole when he abruptly resigned in July 1989. Documents showing the results of an internal audit are also contained above showing “unauthorized” expenditures Griffin made from the chapter’s checking account. (Source: Chehalis Police Department)

Griffin pleaded guilty to felony theft from the 1989 case. After he was sentenced to pay more than $12,000 in restitution to the Red Cross and to report to his community supervision officer, the case file shows Griffin did not do what the judge ordered, and his community supervision officer couldn’t find him. The judge issued a bench warrant for his arrest and law enforcement entered Griffin’s name into the National Crime Information Center as a wanted man. Chehalis Police confirmed to Queen City News just this week that that warrant is still active today, more than 30 years after the Lewis County Superior Court issued it.

The warrant does not carry an extradition request, which means if Griffin ever returns to Washington state and law enforcement finds out, he’ll be arrested and will have to serve the jail sentence imposed on him in 1991.

Timothy Griffin would not communicate with us about any of the Washington state or the Pageland allegations. Griffin said he’d sent a statement earlier this week, but he never did.

He’s now accused of using Chamber money to have his Porsche repaired, withdrawing $50,000 in cash from the Chamber’s bank account between 2021 and 2023, and making personal Amazon purchases using the Chamber’s debit card.

A civil filing clocked into the Foard lawsuit this week by an attorney representing the Pageland Chamber of Commerce accuses Griffin of “misappropriating tens of thousands of dollars of money held by a nonprofit organization and used said funds and assets for personal use and gain,” according to the complaint filed on July 16, 2024, in the Chesterfield County courthouse.

“Griffin’s use of Chamber funds and assets was reckless, wanton, and with complete disregard to the rights and interest of the Chamber and its members.” Attorney Adam C. Gainey, a Hartsville attorney, wrote in the complaint against Griffin. Griffin, who now lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has 30 days after he’s served with the lawsuit to file an answer. It could be the first time Griffin explains his defense of the allegations in public.

What happened in Pageland over the last 12 months is truly rotten. Rotten for the town. Rotten for the powerful public relations force that the Pageland Chamber of Commerce once was. Rotten for the friendships that are no more.

And rotten for the reputation of a small town that bills itself, “The Perfect Slice of Rural America.”

Queen

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