FOX Carolina Investigates takes listeners inside the major cases, crimes and unanswered questions shaping Greenville, Spartanburg and other communities across the Carolinas. From high-profile investigations and court cases to missing persons, public accountability and stories that still leave families searching for answers, our investigative team goes beyond the headlines with original reporting, interviews, timelines and trusted local context.
"Integrity is one of my main priorities."
Chuck Wright said that on the witness stand in 2019 — under oath — during the corruption trial of a different sheriff. He was there to show how a lawman should conduct himself in office. What nobody in that courtroom knew: Wright was already stealing from the very fund meant to help his own deputies.
In the seventh and final episode of FOX Carolina Investigates: Chuck Wright, senior investigative reporter Grace Runkel takes you inside the three-hour federal sentencing hearing that ended with Chief U.S. District Judge Timothy Cain handing down the maximum sentence: 41 months in federal prison. Judge Cain said Wright had forgotten his purpose — "not to be sheriff, but to serve."
The government walked through every scheme. The no-work arrangement that cost taxpayers $350,000. The benevolence fund Wright drained while a deputy's wife battled stage four cancer and another family watched a tree fall through their house with nowhere to turn. The pills he chased — from coworkers, from gunshot victims, from people leaving funerals.
The lead prosecutor said it plainly: "Public officials are not getting the message."
Hear from the defense — including an emotional statement from Wright's attorney and former congressman Trey Gowdy — and from Wright himself, who told the court: "I was in a position of trust and responsibility and I failed you."
And then: what comes next. A new sheriff. A new beginning. But the same laws. The same gaps. The same silence. Chuck Wright is the 17th sheriff in 16 years to be charged with a crime in South Carolina. Judge Cain called it an "open secret" — an indictment of a system that allowed Wright to operate with no accountability for two decades.
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🎧 Thank you for listening to Season 1 of FOX Carolina Investigates: Chuck Wright. Follow FOX Carolina wherever you get your podcasts for future seasons of FOX Carolina Investigates.
6 Jul 2026
Episode 6: Wright on Trial
It was a cold, rainy October morning when Chuck Wright walked into federal court for the first time — and for the first time in two decades, he had nothing to say.
In Episode 6 of FOX Carolina Investigates: Chuck Wright, senior investigative reporter Grace Runkel takes you inside the federal courtroom where Wright was arraigned, pleaded guilty, and began to reckon with the consequences of his crimes. No cameras are allowed in federal court. No phones either. But Grace was there for every hearing — and she's breaking down exactly what happened and what it means.
Three charges. Wire fraud conspiracy. Obtaining controlled substances by misrepresentation. Conspiracy to commit theft from a fund meant to help fallen deputies and their families. Wright didn't just steal money — he stole from the people who trusted him most.
Through his attorneys, Wright finally spoke: he had broken "the sacred trust the people of Spartanburg County placed in me." He blamed addiction. But federal prosecutors pushed back, arguing it wasn't addiction driving his crimes — it was greed. One source put it plainly: "He was a dictator. It was his way or the highway."
And then there's this: when investigators asked Wright about thousands of dollars charged to a county credit card, he told them — "The Castle Crush game got me."
This episode drops July 6. Wright's sentencing is July 7.
Next time on the season finale of FOX Carolina Investigates: Chuck Wright — the sentence comes down, and we look at what's next for Spartanburg County and the sheriff's office Wright left behind. The final episode drops Monday, July 13.
🎧 FOX Carolina Investigates: Chuck Wright drops new episodes every Monday. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.
29 Jun 2026
Episode 5: Wright Before the Fall
For seven weeks, Chuck Wright was nowhere to be found. No interviews. No public appearances. Just silence from the man who never said no to a camera.
Then, just as suddenly as he disappeared, he was back.
In Episode 5, FOX Carolina investigative reporter Grace Runkel takes you behind the scenes of the stakeout that led to Chuck Wright’s final on-camera interview — and the stunning resignation that came just five days later. From a parking lot exchange to a letter to the governor, the end of Wright’s 20-year reign as Spartanburg County Sheriff happened faster than anyone expected.
Hear Wright’s own words in what would become his last interview ever given as sheriff — and the moment he told us, “There’ll be a time. Now’s not it.”
Spoiler: that time never came.
Next time on FOX Carolina Investigates: Chuck Wright— the ex-sheriff appears in court and, for the first time, we hear the exact nature of the allegations against him.
🎧 FOX Carolina Investigates: Chuck Wright drops new episodes every Monday. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.
22 Jun 2026
Episode 4: Getting it Wright
April 1, 2025. The tip came in on the worst possible day in news — April Fools' Day. Chuck Wright was going on leave. And there might be an investigation.
In Episode 4 of FOX Carolina Investigates: Chuck Wright, we pull back the curtain on how the story broke. Senior investigative reporter Grace Runkel and special projects executive producer Catie Bussmann walk you through the editorial decisions, the late-night phone calls, and the careful language that went into reporting on one of the most powerful men in Spartanburg County.
"If Grace is calling me, something big has just happened," Bussmann remembers. "And the first question I asked was, is this an April Fool's joke?"
It wasn't. But confirming it was another story. With no official statement from federal investigators, FOX Carolina had to rely on multiple independent sources — all saying the same thing. FBI agents were asking questions. About nepotism. About county spending. About Chuck Wright.
But here's the thing: being questioned doesn't mean there's an investigation. So the newsroom couldn't say "investigation." They could only say "probe." It felt awkward. But it was accurate.
And then there were the lawsuits. Two former employees. Two wrongful termination claims. Both alleging retaliation. One said he was fired for raising concerns about Wright's son. The other said Wright put her on a "hit list" for supporting his political opponent.
This is the episode about getting it right — even when the most powerful law enforcement official in the county is the one under scrutiny.
🎧 New episodes every Monday. FOX Carolina Investigates: Chuck Wright is building toward Wright's federal sentencing on July 7.
15 Jun 2026
Episode 3: Wright Goes Wrong
Summer 2024. Chuck Wright had just won his sixth election with 87% of the vote. But the victory lap wouldn’t last long.
In Episode 3 of FOX Carolina Investigates: Chuck Wright, the walls start closing in. It begins with a family hire — Wright’s son joins the sheriff’s office, and complaints start flooding the State Ethics Commission. Three people file grievances, including Wright’s 2024 primary opponent Nick Duncan. Wright brushes it off as political enemies trying to “Donald Trump” him.
Then comes the spending. A county credit card. And suddenly, Wright — who always had an answer for everything — goes quiet. For a man who never met a camera he didn’t like, the silence is deafening.
But there’s more brewing in the background. Attorney Adrienne Turner sues to get public records from Operation Rolling Thunder — Wright’s signature drug enforcement operation on I-85. When the documents finally come out in August 2024, they reveal a troubling pattern: more than 70% of searches turned up nothing. Black drivers made up 74% of stops, despite being less than 15% of the population. And officers weren’t documenting failed searches.
The sheriff’s office would end Operation Rolling Thunder after Wright resigned.
So how does a sheriff who survived scandal after scandal for two decades suddenly find himself facing federal charges? The answer is in the details — and they’re starting to pile up.
🎧 New episodes every Monday. FOX Carolina Investigates: Chuck Wright is building toward Wright's federal sentencing on July 7.
8 Jun 2026
Episode 2: The Wright Way
Before the FBI came knocking, Chuck Wright was one of the most colorful sheriffs in South Carolina history. In this episode, we pull back the curtain on what made Wright such a larger-than-life figure in Spartanburg County — and why reporters couldn't get enough of him.
FOX Carolina photographer Mindy Cecil spent 17 of Wright's 20 years in office by his side, and she's got the stories to prove it. From the moment Wright told her he bought his truck "with drug money" to the weekly Most Wanted segment — an idea Wright himself pitched — Mindy shares what it was really like to work with the man who was never short on soundbites.
Then, the case that defined his tenure: serial killer Todd Kohlhepp. In November 2016, Wright's office cracked open one of the county's most horrifying chapters — rescuing Kala Brown from a storage container, recovering the body of Charlie Carver, and closing a 13-year-old cold case tied to the Superbike Motorsports murders. Two days after it all unfolded, Wright won re-election with 85% of the vote.
So how does a sheriff go from that kind of moment to a federal guilty plea? That's what this season is all about.
New episodes drop every Monday. FOX Carolina Investigates: Chuck Wright is building toward Wright's federal sentencing on July 7.
31 May 2026
Episode 1: The Rise of Wright
For twenty years, Chuck Wright was the law in Spartanburg County. Then the law came for him.
In Season 1, Episode 1 of FOX Carolina Investigates: Chuck Wright, we go back to the very beginning — rewinding the tape to 2004, when a deputy from a small mill town pulled off a stunning political upset and became one of the most powerful men in Upstate South Carolina.
He won six elections. He launched Operation Rolling Thunder. He showed up at crime scenes, chased suspects and built a reputation as a tough, God-fearing lawman. But behind the badge, warning signs were there — if you knew where to look.
In 2016, a former colleague went to the FBI. He had documents. He had concerns. And he had a warning that almost nobody took seriously. Wright denied it all. No charges. No consequences. Not yet.
With Wright's federal sentencing now weeks away, FOX Carolina's senior investigative reporter Grace Runkel breaks down the rise of a man whose fall would shock an entire county.
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