Marcus Kitchens resigned today as the Spartanburg County Clerk of Court. This comes a day after he was arrested on federal charges of stealing drugs from the evidence room at the Spartanburg County Judicial Center.  He allegedly took cocaine and methamphetamines, then allegedly sold the drugs to a Florida drug dealer who was in reality a confidential source for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.

The Governor’s Office says they have begun the process of appointing a replacement to serve out the existing term and that they hope to make the appointment in the near future.

Kitchens was released from jail yesterday after posting a $25,000 bond. in a prepared statement, Kitchens says, “My actions have hurt my family, co-workers and citizens who have elected me. I am very sorry and take full responsibility for my actions and can only hope that the people I hurt will one day forgive me.”

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for a North Carolina man charged with killing three women and dumping two of the victim’s bodies in wooded areas in South Carolina last Fall. Gaston County, North Carolina resident 47-year-old Danny Robbie Hembree, Jr. is accused of  killing two Gastonia women, 17-year-old Heather Catterton and 30-year-old Randi Dean Saldana, and dumping their bodies in two separate wooded areas in the northern part of South Carolina. Catterton’s body was found in October in woods near the York County town of Clover. Saldana’s burned remains were found November 15 in Kings Mountain State Park near Blacksburg in Cherokee County. Police says they also found evidence that Hembree killed a third victim Deborah Ratchford in 1992. Authorities say Hembree knew all three women.