The Chairman of York County, South Carolina Republicans was arrested Monday morning and charged with multiple counts for allegedly causing severe bruising by spanking a child’s bare bottom.
Benjamin “Ben” Ignatowicz, 33, of York County was taken into custody by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) for unlawful neglect of a child or helpless person for allegedly causing a child bodily harm, according to WIS 10 News.
Warrants state that on March 27, 2021, he spanked an unidentified minor child at his residence. The WIS 10 report indicates that during an interview, Ignatowicz said he was frustrated when he spanked the child and told SLED agents that “it had been a day.”
“When shown a picture by SLED of the bruising, Ignatowicz said: ‘based off the picture’ he would agree that it was excessive,” according to the charging documents.
The charge is a felony under South Carolina law and carries up to 10 years in prison for a conviction. The York County Sheriff Kevin Tolson is a Republican and said that because of the political affiliation his office turned over the case to SLED.
Ignatowicz’s biography on the York County Republicans website states that, in addition to his county GOP chairmanship, he has served as chairman of the school board of Riverwalk Academy since 2020. Riverwalk Academy is a private K-10th school in Rock Hill, SC.
It also indicates that he has “two precious daughters” with wife Elizabeth.
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