Horry County officer gets probation for misconduct charge, burglary charge dropped
HCDC
Thomas Jefferson Chestnut
Published: July 23, 2008
Updated: July 24, 2008
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.
Reader Reactions
Thank you, conwaygal, I understand.
No, this article does not pertain to me directly; indirectly, YES.
I have a passion now. It has moved beyond just hurt. I finally started healing and when I felt the anger over it, I knew I was well on my way to healing. There is still a little anger over the fact that these guys are so protected. I allowed myself to feel the feelings and now I am intentionally over the anger because that is just another form of the victimizer still having control over you. What people do not understand is the patterns don’t change for these guys. It is scary what I know goes on with them and it just seems they never have to pay for what they do, it is the innocent who pay for these types of things.
What was this officers wife suppose to do when he brought stolen items into their home? It is dangerous when a spouse stands up to these guys. Some of us know this.
i agree with that. i was just trying to understand if the story was somehow related to you. I couldnt understand. I use to work in law enforcement and i can tell you that some people think they are invincable once that uniform goes on. I hope he gets what he deserves
It fits in because this was an officer who did wrong and his wife will probably be the one to take the fall for him.
It fits in because it is the truth.
It FITS IN because some of us are really tired of the wrong ones taking blame and the real perpetrators walk away and move on to other departments,to do more damage.
It also fits in because some of our officers just don’t care, they wear the gun, the badge, the uniform for what it can do for them.
what does this last comment have to do with the story? it seems that you are telling people your business that no one really cares to hear. im sorry that has happened to you but i just dont see where it is fitting in to the story
I KNOW A VICTIM OF A COP, SUPPOSEDLY HE CAN’T CARRY A GUN OR EVER BE AN OFFICER AGAIN. WELL, HE CARRIES A PISTOL, THE SAME PISTOL PUT AGAINST MY HEAD MANY TIMES, THE SAME GUN I WAS LITERALLY HELD AGAINST MY WILL MANY TIMES WHILE HE PUT IT TO HIS HEAD, SAYING THINGS LIKE LOOK WHAT YOU ARE MAKING ME DO. THE SAME PISTOL HE WOULD SIT IN HIS CHAIR WITH WHILE I HAD TO WATCH. TOO MUCH LIKE THE WOMAN FROM SUMTER WHO JUST WAS MURDERED BY HER LOVING MAN. THE SAME PISTOL HE HAD IN HIS POSSESSION AND I WAS VERY AWARE OF WHILE HE WOULD RAPE ME, TIME AFTER TIME. I WAS ALWAYS TOLD HE DID IT BECAUSE HE LOVES ME SO MUCH. BUT IN THE NEXT BREATH, WOULD BE CURSING ME, THEN BEGGING FORGIVENESS, THEN CURSING AND THREATENING.
NO ONE IS DOING ANYTHING.
I PUT MYSELF ON HOUSE ARREST (EXPLAINED IN TOPIX.COM, OPEN LETTER TO SHERIFF BOONE,) BECAUSE I DON’T EVER WANT TO RUN INTO HIM AGAIN.
NOW THE MAN KNOWS THE ONLY PLACE I DO GO, AND MAKES HIS PRESENCE KNOWN AND FELT, EVEN HAS HIS NEWEST WOMAN THERE TO ENCOURAGE HIM ON WITH, ‘THERE SHE IS, DO IT’!
I AM COMING TO THE POINT NOW WHERE IT SEEMS THE ONLY WAY I AM GOING TO GET ANYONE TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS IS
GO OUT AND DELIBERATELY GET A DUS!
YES, DELIBERATELY, IT COULD NOT BE A HIGHER PRICE THAN I HAVE ALREADY PAID. EVERYONE PASSES THE BUCK, I GO ONE PLACE, NO, I AM IN THE WRONG PLACE, YOU NEED TO GO HERE. IT IS GETTING REALLY OLD AND A PAIN IN MY****, JUST LIKE THE GOOD GUY OFFICER PUT THERE. I HAVE ALOT TO SAY ABOUT THAT ONE AND NOT MUCH OF IT IS PRETTY.
IF I WERE A CANCER SURVIVOR OR BULEMIA SURVIVOR EVERYONE WOULD PRAISE ME, BUT NO, I AM A SURVIVOR OF DOMESTIC AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE AND EVEN MY NEW FAMILY USED THAT TO TURN AGAINST ME, BELIEVING INSTEAD THE DIRTY COP AND THE RECORD I WAS SO HAPPILY GIVEN. MY NEW FAMILY LOVED ME UNTIL THEY FOUND OUT HIS VERSION!
WHICH IS THE ONLY SIDE, HIS SIDE. NOW EVEN MY NICE IN-LAWS HAVE ATTACKED ME IN SEVERAL WAYS TELLING ME I BETTER GET OUT OF THE FAMILY WHILE I CAN STILL SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY! EVEN THEY DO NOT WANT THE REAL STORY. HE IS BELIEVABLE AND CHARMING! YES RIGHT, GET TO KNOW HIM. LIKE ALL THE OTHERS HE HAS VICTIMIZED. IT EVEN HAS BEEN TOLD BY HIS OLD CHURCH MEMBERS HE WAS MADE TO LEAVE THE CHURCH BECAUSE HE MOLESTED HIS DAUGHTER! NOT BECAUSE HE WAS SEEN GOING IN TO SEE A MOVIE! WE BELIEVE A LOT OF CRAP WHEN WE DON’T KNOW THE REAL PERSON, BUT AS SOON AS WE DO KNOW THEM WELL, WE START WONDERING HOW WE COULD BELIEVE SUCH UNBELIEVABLE LIES COMING FROM THEIR MOUTHS. THEN WE FEEL EVEN SMALLER BECASUE WE HAVE BEEN LIVING WITH THIS PERSON. THEY THROW US POUT WITH NOTHING, HAVE THE LAW HELP THEM DO IT. ISN’T IT ILLEGAL TO TAKE SOMEONES HOME AND BELONGINGS?
Oh, the perks when u put on the badge gun and uniform.
Fyi, if you tally up the hours, you will find most street officers work one half of a year. They work 12 hour shifts,then so days off, then a few 12 hours shifts and more days off.
That leaves the whole other half for them to have other jobs or hobbies, but they have seen so much I guess it takes extra special hobbies to hold their interest! I have seen some of the mischief these ‘good guys’ get into.
His wife probably will take most of the punishment for this one; meanwhile, he will move on to another department. The victims of these officers are still walking around, thank God they are alive to walk around, but it is so exacerbating when you work on issues for years just to be humiliated more by telling your truth over and over, or trying to anyway!
The dirty cops are still getting off. What would have happened if it had been just a citizen who did this?
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