State investigators closed an investigation into the handling of millions of dollars donated to the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston without interviewing key church officials or a series of potential witnesses, according to a case file obtained by the Post and Courier.
Many hoped that the State Law Enforcement Division’s review would resolve a long-standing controversy over the flood of donations that spread after a racist sniper killed nine worshipers in 2015. The allegations arose about mismanagement of funds and says the church pocketed money for the survivors of the shooting and the families of the victims.
But SLED ended the investigation just a few weeks after it started in late October, leaving many questions unanswered, as agents professed a scarcity of evidence pointing to any wrongdoing.
The investigation was requested by lawyer Andy Savage, who represents three survivors and several families of victims. After reading SLED’s five-page report detailing his investigation, Savage wondered why he cared.
“I’m just disappointed,” said Savage on Monday.
SLED spokesman Tommy Crosby said he was unable to answer specific questions about the investigation presented by the Post and Courier. But he said SLED would consider reopening the investigation in the future “if at any time credible evidence is presented showing possible criminal violations”.
Emanuel officials, who have long maintained that nothing improper happened, expressed hope that the quick end of the investigation would put the matter at peace and help the church heal.
The SLED investigation emerged more than four years after the mass shooting, although the controversy over the Church’s handling of money arose a few months after the massacre. Savage initially took his concerns to the Charleston police, but they asked SLED to investigate the matter. The SLED investigation aimed to determine whether a full criminal investigation was warranted.
The resulting report, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, shows that SLED agents spoke to Savage and four others who had raised concerns about overseeing donations. The agents also spoke with Emanuel’s lawyer and his current pastor, and they reviewed an audit of a church fund created to house donations.
But the report shows that investigators did not interview other key figures, including the interim pastor and church treasurer who oversaw donations as they arrived. Nor did agents look at the church’s general finances to see if donations went to bank accounts other than the one created to receive them.
They also did not ask donors who they intended their money to benefit from, to see if the church maintained funds for survivors and the victims’ families. That was the key question that Savage wanted answered.
A flood of donations
Former church secretary Althea Latham told agents she was fired after pressuring leaders to hire an external auditor to process donations. She said donations flooded the Church around the world, including many envelopes addressed to victims and their families.
Latham said the church’s treasurer, Rosetta Singleton, told her that if the envelopes had the church’s address, the money belonged to the church. She saw people counting piles of money without anyone keeping records of everything, the report said.
Her concerns echoed those of the husband of one of the victims, who told the Post and Courier, shortly after the shooting, that she observed women in the church opening bags of letters and withdrawing donations without registering them. Subsequently, the victims’ families received correspondence sent to them in the church that had been opened and marked as “empty”.
Liz Alston is a lifelong member of Emanuel, a church historian and former president of the Charleston County School Board. She told agents that a month or two after the massacre, she found a check for $ 10,000 in a building adjacent to the church in a pile of books. It was aimed at shooting victims, says the SLED report.
Shooting survivor Felicia Sanders gave agents the names of three members who handled the donations and one who she said had audited. The agents also had the names of three other church members who opened the correspondence.
The SLED report gives no indication that the agents sought any of these people. They also did not speak to Singleton, the treasurer, or Rev. Norvel Goff, who was Emanuel’s interim pastor in the first seven months after the shooting and remains his presiding elder. Goff is also treasurer for the 7th district of the AME Church, which covers South Carolina.
Nor did SLED agents interview Richard Franklin Norris, then bishop of the 7th District. They also did not interview Rev. Betty Deas Clark, who led the church for five months after Goff. Norris moved her suddenly in the middle of her first birthday celebrations.
The agents also did not interview the shooting survivor Polly Sheppard, who allegedly found a bag containing $ 10,000 in a classroom and gave it to Goff and Singleton, according to the SLED report.
SLED spokesman Crosby said he was unable to answer why the agents chose not to interview these individuals.
Neither Goff nor Singleton responded to requests for comment on Tuesday.
Examining the books
As donations arrived, Emanuel’s leaders opened an account they called the Moving Forward Fund to house the donations. In all, they put about $ 3.5 million into the fund.
In May 2016, the church withdrew $ 1.5 million from the account and divided it between the families of the nine victims and survivor Sheppard. Each received $ 153,380.
The church maintained $ 2 million for building repairs, additional security and legal fees, says the SLED report. Church leaders claim that the money was sent to Emanuel and therefore intended for Emanuel, unless donors specifically write that their money is intended for the survivors or the victims’ families.
But survivors and their families argue that this is not a church decision. They say the donors intended to help those most directly affected by the shooting.
“I’m focused on $ 3.5 million,” said Savage. “Why does the church think it’s theirs for repairs?”
Savage said the main reason he sought an investigation is because Emanuel did not give any of the donations to the child who survived the massacre by pretending to be dead in the midst of the carnage. Now in her teens, she is living out of state in a therapeutic boarding school and needs substantial psychiatric treatment since the shooting.
“It’s not the church’s money to begin with,” said Savage. “In my discussions with people in our community, no one thought they were going to church for legal fees.”
The other persistent question is: did all donations sent to Emanuel go to his Movement Fund, where they could be counted?
The SLED report indicates that the agents reviewed an audit of the fund, but did not ask to see any other church accounts to see if they also grew after the shooting.
“That’s where the problem lies – if there is one -” said attorney Mullins McLeod Jr., who represents the properties of Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, Myra Thompson and Cynthia Graham Hurd.
Hurd’s husband, Arthur, was the one who told the Post and Courier that he saw women rummaging through donation bags without registering. Hurd sued the church shortly after the shooting, seeking access to the Moving Forward Fund.
As part of that process, Singleton, who remains Emanuel’s treasurer, said in a sworn statement that she was the main person responsible for handling the donations.
“I am in a position to know if any of the donations have been misused or misused. I am not aware of any misconduct by any Church representative regarding the handling of donations, ”said his statement.
McLeod reviewed the receipts for that account at the time and also found no major problems. But he questioned why SLED did not compare Emanuel’s global cash reserves before the massacre with the amount available six months or a year later.
Millions of dollars in donations poured into the Emanuel AME Church after the June 17, 2015 massacre that left nine people dead. Archive
Savage also questioned why the agents did not examine the finances of Emanuel’s leaders at the time or of others who dealt directly with the donations.
“I assumed they would track the money given to the bishop, the Seventh District or individual pastors,” said Savage. “Did anyone receive a bonus?”
Before ending the investigation, SLED agents interviewed Emanuel’s current pastor, Rev. Eric Manning, who was assigned to the church a year after the shooting. At that meeting, according to the SLED report, his agents told pastor and lawyer Wilbur Johnson that “after several interviews, no one could say that someone had stolen money”.
The agents also noted that the Moving Forward Fund still contains “a significant amount of money”, although the report does not indicate a specific number.
Johnson showed SLED agents two three-ring folders with thank-you notes written to donors. Savage said he would like to see those notes and ask donors where they wanted their money to go.
“SLED should have done that,” he added.
Ninth Circuit attorney Scarlett Wilson said a SLED captain gave her a courtesy call in November to inform her of her decision to end the investigation, saying “they were unable to find anyone with direct knowledge of the offense”. Wilson said the agents had not presented her with any material for review and she was not asked to give an opinion on their decision. She said she had not given an opinion and would have referred the case to the state attorney general because of her relations with the survivors and the families of the victims in the case.