S.C. Corrections Officers Accused of Stealing Cow From Prison Farm

COLUMBIA, S.C. – State law enforcement agents have a beef with two corrections officers they say stole a cow from a prison farm.

Robert Kent Summersett, 58, of Rembert, and Carl Ray Watford Jr., 55, of Timmonsville, have been charged with larceny of livestock, according to warrants issued Tuesday by the State Law Enforcement Division.

The officers took the beef cow valued at less than $1,000 from a prison farm at Wateree Correctional Institution in Sumter County, where they both work, the warrants allege.

The prison provides inmate labor for the Corrections Department's 7,000-acre farm, which also has dairy, egg-laying and beef cattle operations, according to the department's Web site.

Neither man has a prior criminal record in South Carolina, according to records maintained by SLED.

Calls to the jail seeking comment from Summersett and Watford were not answered after business hours Tuesday.