A former Pacolet police officer has been booked into the Spartanburg County Detention Center on charges of prostitution, defrauding a federally chartered financial institution and obstruction of justice, after state investigators say a $203 payment for sexual acts at a Boiling Springs Road massage business spiraled into a false bank claim and lies to agents. Frederick Trent Payne, 43, was arrested Thursday following a four-month probe by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.
According to arrest warrants cited by The Post and Courier, Payne used his Founders Federal Credit Union debit card on May 5, 2026, to pay $203 for a sex act at Royal Springs Massage, a transaction that overdrew his account. Six days later, on May 11, he allegedly filed a fraudulent phone claim with the credit union for $276, a claim investigators say he made only after the in-person expense pushed his balance below zero. Warrants further allege Payne spent the fraudulently claimed funds in person using his credit card.
As reported by Fox Carolina, SLED says Payne also gave intentionally false statements to agents during a May 21 interview concerning the criminal investigation, which forms the basis of the obstruction of justice charge. He now faces three separate counts: prostitution, first offense; a crime against a federally chartered financial institution; and obstruction of justice. Payne was working as an officer with the Pacolet Police Department at the time of the alleged incidents.
A Resignation Before the Public Arrest
The Pacolet Police Department moved quickly once SLED notified the town of its investigation. Chief Joseph Hawes confirmed to FITSNews that Payne was placed on unpaid administrative leave and then resigned from the department earlier in the week, before the criminal warrants against him were made public. SLED formally arrested Payne on September 3, 2026, following the four-month investigation that began in May at the request of the Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office.
That request mattered because Payne's career had run almost entirely through Spartanburg County's own justice system before he ever put on a Pacolet uniform. The station's report notes he worked two separate stints as a correctional officer at the Spartanburg County Detention Center — from October 2013 to April 2014, and again from April 2017 to November 2023 — before serving as a Spartanburg County Sheriff's deputy from November 2023 to July 2024. Handing the case to state investigators rather than the sheriff's office itself helped avoid a potential conflict of interest given Payne's recent employment there.
What the Charges Could Mean in Court
Under South Carolina Code § 16-15-110, a first-offense prostitution conviction carries a maximum penalty of a $200 fine, up to 30 days in jail, or both, according to the South Carolina Legislature. State law does not maintain a separate solicitation statute; instead, § 16-15-90 criminalizes both soliciting and purchasing sexual services under a single broad prostitution law, per the Strom Law Firm, which is why a person accused of paying for sex is charged under the same statute as someone accused of offering it. Separately, financial fraud penalties under Title 16, Chapter 13 are scaled by dollar amount, with property values under $2,000 — like the $276 at issue here — generally treated as misdemeanor-level offenses carrying smaller fines or shorter jail terms.
The South Carolina Attorney General's Office is prosecuting the case. It remains unclear whether anyone else connected to Royal Springs Massage will face charges, how Founders Federal Credit Union first flagged the disputed claim, or what defense Payne's attorney will mount as the case moves forward.
Part of a Broader Pattern of SLED Scrutiny
Payne's arrest is not an isolated case for Spartanburg County's law enforcement ranks. Per FITSNews, it marks at least the second SLED arrest of a former Spartanburg County Sheriff's deputy in the span of August and September 2026, following the August arrest of another former deputy on breach of trust charges. SLED routinely steps in on this kind of case specifically to conduct independent investigations into local officer misconduct.
Pacolet itself is a small former mill town in eastern Spartanburg County, with a population of roughly 2,500 residents located about 10 miles outside the city of Spartanburg, according to the Town of Pacolet. The community maintains a small municipal police force compared with neighboring county agencies, making Payne's arrest a significant disruption for a department that size.
