A veteran officer with the Horry County Police department was fired in April after investigators said he broke into a business in Conway and stole a laptop computer, computer monitor, and a digital camera totaling nearly $2,000.
Wednesday afternoon, 38-year-old Thomas Jefferson Chestnut, pleaded guilty to misconduct in office charges, according to a release form the 15th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.
Investigators also charged Chestnut with second-degree burglary in the case, but prosecutors dropped that charge in exchange for the plea to the misconduct.
Chestnut faced serious jail time if convicted of the burglary charge.
The burglary happened on April 3 inside a real estate office inside a new subdivision just off Highway 319, just north of Conway.
Police said Chestnut was working the area on patrol and that he stole the items while on patrol and that he connected the computer to the internet inside his Nancy Lane home, only hours after the items were stolen.
The victim in the case, Brooke Howle, told News13 in an interview following Chestnut’s arrest that she had her internet network provider look for her computer’s IP address following the thefts, and pointed police to the Chestnut’s Conway home.
Only five days following Chestnut’s arrest, Horry County Police arrested his wife, 38-year-old Carolyn Chestnut, and charged her with receiving stolen goods.
The solicitor’s office’s release did not mention the status of the charge against Carolyn Chestnut.
A county judge set Thomas Chestnut’s bond at $10,000 and released him on a PR bond, and set his wife’s bond at $5,000 back in April.
Chestnut told the judge at his bond hearing in April that he was a third-generation of the Chestnut family living in Horry County and he was no risk to flee the charges against him.
A circuit court judge sentenced Chestnut to 6 years in prison, but suspended that to 3 years probation and he must complete 200 hours of community service as part of his sentence.
You can count on News13 to update you on the status of Carolyn Chestnut’s charges as details become available.
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