South Carolina opens probe into church’s finances, including donations

CHARLESTON, S.C. — South Carolina authorities are looking into the finances of Emanuel AME Church, which received millions in donations after a racist attack left nine worshippers at a Bible study dead in 2015.

State Law Enforcement Division spokesman Tommy Crosby confirmed the investigation last week but declined to elaborate, The Post and Courier reported.

The church’s former secretary, Althea Latham, says she spoke to SLED agents recently about the handling of those donations. Latham has long contended that her contract wasn’t renewed less than two months after the shooting because she questioned processing and transparency surrounding the money that was coming in.

Church leaders have said her contract simply wasn’t renewed.

Latham hopes that accountability will resolve lingering suspicions over the donations since they were made and help the survivors, grieving families and church members better heal from the trauma.

Attorney Andy Savage represents three shooting survivors and several of the victims’ families. His office confirmed that they were contacted by SLED and are cooperating with the investigation.

The church’s current pastor, the Rev. Eric S.C. Manning, who was assigned to Emanuel a year after the tragedy, said SLED hasn’t reached out to him.

“I have no earthly idea what’s going on,” Manning said. “That’s news to me.”

The Rev. Norvel Goff, who served as interim pastor for the first seven months after the shooting, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. Goff took over after the church’s pastor, the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, and most of the ministerial staff were killed in the June 17, 2015, shooting, which was carried out by a self-avowed white supremacist, Dylann Roof. Roof is currently on federal death row for his crimes.