By PSA Newsroom Staff
South Carolina: A South Carolina prosecutor says a breakdown between private GPS monitoring companies left 144 criminal defendants effectively untracked, despite court orders requiring continuous ankle monitoring — a failure he says reflects long-standing weaknesses in how electronic monitoring is overseen statewide.
First Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe said Divine Providence GPS, a company used by courts to supervise defendants on bond, failed to properly monitor individuals in multiple counties, including Orangeburg and Calhoun.
“These defendants were supposed to be monitored 24 hours a day,” Pascoe said. “That did not happen.”
What went wrong
According to Pascoe, Divine Providence relied on Nationwide GPS Monitoring for its tracking software and equipment. A contract dispute between the two companies led Nationwide to terminate service on January 8, cutting off live monitoring — even though defendants continued wearing ankle monitors that appeared to be functioning.
Pascoe said courts, prosecutors, victims, and defense attorneys were not immediately notified that tracking had stopped.
“This wasn’t a paperwork issue,” Pascoe said. “It was a complete failure to monitor people the courts ordered to be monitored.”
Alleged violations and arrests
Pascoe also alleges Divine Providence was not properly approved under South Carolina law, which requires GPS monitoring companies to meet regulatory standards and be overseen by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED).
The solicitor’s office has moved to hold company owner Denaro Ponds in contempt of court. Ponds has been taken into custody, and SLED has been asked to investigate potential obstruction of justice.
Additional hearings are scheduled in Dorchester County, where judges are expected to determine how affected cases will be handled.
What the law requires
South Carolina law places specific duties on GPS monitoring companies.
Under S.C. Code § 17-15-37, all electronic monitoring agencies — including private GPS companies and bonding
agencies — must be certified by SLED and comply with strict reporting and monitoring standards.
Among the legal requirements:
- Devices must provide verifiable location data at regular and random intervals.
- Prosecutors and law enforcement must be given real-time access to monitoring information and reports within 24 hours upon request.
- Monitoring agencies must notify the solicitor and bondsman within 48 hours of any violation of a court order.
- Immediate notification to law enforcement and reasonable attempts to notify victims are required when exclusion zones are violated.
If a company fails to meet those standards, the statute authorizes SLED to fine, suspend, or revoke certification.
Pascoe has said Divine Providence was operating outside these statutory requirements when monitoring stopped.
A familiar problem statewide
While the number of defendants affected in this case is striking, concerns about ankle monitoring are not new in South Carolina.
Multiple investigations by local news outlets over the past several years have documented missed alerts, delayed responses, and unclear accountability involving private GPS monitoring companies and bondsmen. In some cases, defendants accused of violent crimes were later found to have violated monitoring conditions without timely intervention.
Those reports consistently point to a systemic issue: courts rely on private companies to enforce public-safety conditions, yet oversight and enforcement vary widely from county to county.
“When monitoring fails,” Pascoe said, “judges lose visibility, victims lose protection, and the justice system loses credibility.”
What happens now
It remains unclear whether all 144 defendants have been placed under alternative supervision or ordered back to court. Pascoe said bondsmen may also face scrutiny, noting they can be legally responsible for ensuring compliance with monitoring conditions.
SLED’s investigation is ongoing.
