COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Officials with a lobbying organization at the center of a federal investigation surrounding hundreds of thousands of dollars which led to the suicide of its founder plan to hold a news conference.
South Carolina Hospitality Association Chairman Rick Erwin is scheduled to speak to reporters at 4 p.m. Thursday in Columbia. The reason for the news conference has not been disclosed.
Association founder Tom Sponseller was found dead last month from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a room behind two locked doors in the parking garage under the association's office. Police had searched the garage three other times after he went missing 10 days before and not found him.
Sponseller's suicide note mentioned his disappointment at hundreds of thousands of dollars missing from the organization he built over decades.
