Tipsheet

Consultant Sentenced After Convicted of Bribery Scheme

Jeff Charles
Jeff Charles  |  April 23, 2026 4:45 PM

A North Charleston, South Carolina, consultant was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison for his role in two bribery schemes involving city council members.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of South Carolina alleged that Aaron Charles-Lee Hicks, 38, took part in efforts to buy influence over zoning decisions. 

The first involves a conflict over zoning efforts involving Sea Fox, a saltwater fishing boat manufacturer. The company sought to build a new facility in the city, but the project would have required changes to zoning laws. The project faced fierce opposition from residents.

Prosecutors said the company hired Hicks as a consultant in early 2024 to “garner community support and help ensure that North Charleston City Council would vote in favor of the zoning change,” the Justice Department said.

The company paid Hicks $30,000 between February and June 2024 after city councilmembers Jerome Heyward and Mike A. Brown recommended him for the consulting job. Hicks used part of these consulting fees to bribe the councilmembers.

Hicks paid Heyward $5,000 and Brown at least $1,000. The first payment of $2,500 was paid to Heyward on the very day the council voted on the rezoning application. Prosecutors also explain that Hicks was at an April 26, 2024 meeting where Hason Fields agreed to bribe then-Councilman Sandino Moses to garner support for the Sea Fox project.

But that wasn’t all.

In a separate but related case, former Councilman Moses was sentenced to probation after he pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony under the bribery probe. He sat on the city council when Sea Fox’s zoning request came before the body. 

Hicks and Fields met with Sea Fox representatives to strategize their future moves. Fields stated that Moses “was susceptible to a bribe because of personal difficulties,” according to the Justice Department. Fields paid Moses two bribes. While Moses repaid the money when he realized it was meant to be a bribe. But he did not report the crime to law enforcement.

Hicks will also serve two years of supervised release after his prison sentence is concluded. The judge ordered him to forfeit the $30,000 he was paid for the bribery scheme. There is no evidence showing that Sea Fox knew Hicks would use the $30,000 to bribe city officials.