Ex-Bamberg County council member sentenced to federal prison for lying about sex charges

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – A former South Carolina county councilman has been given the maximum sentence for lying about an indictment on child sex charges when he tried to buy a gun.

News outlets report that federal district Judge Mary Geiger Lewis told Kerry Trent Kinard on Wednesday that if she could have given him more than 18 months, she probably would have.

Kinard’s wife testified that the retired state trooper and former Bamberg County Council chairman had threatened to kill her.

When he applied to buy a pistol, Kinard wrote that he was not under a felony indictment nor a restraining order.

He faces trial next month on charges that accuse him of molesting a boy and trying to rape a girl.