DJJ Officer Charged with Sexual Misconduct

A Department of Juvenile Justice correctional officer was arrested on Friday morning and charged with sexual misconduct with an inmate, according to a press release from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.

Gary Whisonant, 28, of 19 Landmark Dr., Apt. 42-E, was charged with two counts of misconduct in office, one count of first degree sexual misconduct with an inmate and one count of first degree assault and battery. 

Arrest warrants state that Whisonant had oral and anal sex with an inmate on Aug. 1 and again on Sept. 23 on the Birchwood campus inside the Broad River Road complex. The warrants also accuse Whisonant of groping the inmate on an activity bus in front of witnesses on Sept. 23. Whisonant confessed to the activities, according to the warrants.

The arrest was the result of an investigation by SLED at the request of DJJ. 

Whisonant was booked at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center. 

The case will be prosecuted by the Fifth Circuit Solicitor's Office.