State Rep. Thad Viers was charged Friday with harassing his ex-girlfriend after she told investigators he continued to call, text and email for more than five months after they broke up, according to a Myrtle Beach police report.
Viers, 33, announced he was withdrawing his candidacy for South Carolina’s newly created 7th Congressional District "due to personal reasons" following his bond hearing Friday.
He also said he would not seek a sixth term representing S.C. House District 68. But according to the Associated Press, Viers has no intention of stepping down early from his current term.
Myrtle Beach Judge Clifford Welsh released Viers' on personal recognizance, saying the Republican representative was not considered a flight risk. Welsh warned Viers that he would stay in jail with no bond if he contacted the woman again.
Viers’ initial appearance on the charge is scheduled to be Feb. 24, 1 p.m. with the case set on the docket for May 4.
“While I had hoped to join South Carolina's conservative congressional delegation in fighting back against Washington's out-of-control spending spree, now is not the time,” Veirs said in an emailed statement released Friday afternoon. “Instead, I will focus on building my law practice and advocating free market principles here in Horry County.”
Viers' arrest came nearly four years after he pleaded no contest to threatening to beat and sexually assault a man dating his estranged wife.
On the harassment charges issued Friday, Viers’ ex-girlfriend said she repeatedly asked the representative to stop contacting her after she broke off their relationship in June or July, but was reluctant to press charges because she didn't want to hurt Viers' political career, police said.
The woman wrote several letters to Viers asking him to stop, including one sent by her attorney. The woman's father also sent his own letter after Viers sent him tickets to a sporting event, investigators said
The woman finally went to police with a three-ring binder containing details of the calls, emails and texts, and on Dec. 16, a detective asked Viers to stop calling the woman, according to a police report.
But the woman told police that Viers contacted her on two more occasions, once by email on Dec. 22 and again through a New Year's Eve text sent from someone else's cell phone, police said.
After the hearing, Viers said he and the woman dated for four years and that he asked her to marry him on Dec. 16, but she said no.
In June 2007, Viers pleaded no contest to unlawful communication and was fined $500 for threats made to a man who was dating a woman who was his estranged wife at that time.
Viers attorney, fellow state Rep. Todd Rutherford, said after that plea that the charge was an attempt to get back at Viers, who acted "under the influence of love."
But the man who was threatened said he felt so scared he slept with a shotgun.
Viers seemed to weather the bad publicity from the case and was seen as a rising star in South Carolina Republican politics.
At a Charleston gathering sponsored by conservative blog RedState last August, Gov. Nikki Haley recognized Viers in the crowd and noted his run for Congress. She said he was "a good conservative, a strong fighter, somebody you should definitely pay attention to. We've got one of the best federal delegations in the country. Thad would make a great addition to that."
Viers is a graduate of the University of South Carolina law school and first was elected to the South Carolina House in 2002.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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