Greenville Councilman Trout Says He Knew Arrest Was Coming

Greenville County Councilman Tony Trout has been arrested on a federal complaint Wednesday according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

He was released on a $25,000 personal recognizance bond shortly after his initial court appearance at 1pm Wednesday.

Shortly after his release, Trout spoke to a News Channel 7 reporter. He told us he was taken into custody this morning at Arby's on Butler Road in Mauldin where he was meeting his attorney.

Trout said he was going to Columbia to consult with more attorneys.

He says he believes his phone was bugged because no one knew that's where he was going to be other than his lawyer. Agents took him into custody there.

Trout says he knew his arrest was coming but didn't know it was today.

He said he has so much stuff on the government and they're scared of him. He told us the government is corrupt all the way up to the US Attorneys office.

"There is no way in hell I'm pleading to anything. I can't wait to get everything out there and tell a jury, a 12 person jury," Trout told the media.

"I didn't realize how far up the good old boys network goes," Trout said.

Lottie Gibson stood up for Trout and is supporting him. She's a Greenville City Council member.

Trout faces 5 years in prison and up to $250,000 fine.

United States Attorney W. Walter Wilkins announced Harold Anthony "Tony" Trout was arrested Wednesday morning by FBI agents on federal charges of unauthorized computer access.

The federal complaint and supporting affidavit, filed Wednesday, allege violations concerning the unauthorized access of computers.

Trout made an initial appearance in federal court before the U.S. Magistrate Judge William M. Catoe at the United States Federal Courthouse in Greenville.

Joe Dill, Greenville County Councilman for District 17, spoke with us on Wednesday.

Dill says that he’s not surprised by the arrest of Tony Trout.

“They had been investigating him for such a long time that I didn’t know whether they were going to arrest him or not. I am just sorry that it had to happen. I’ve felt like the things that he done all along were against the law," Dill said.

Trout has been a Greenville County Councilman for District 18.

Trout was defeated by Greer City Councilman Joseph Baldwin for the County Council District 18 seat on June 24. Baldwin received 1,332 votes to 487 for Trout.

Greenville County spokesman Bob Mihalic says they have no comment on the situation.

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Web resources:
A gooogle search for Tony Trout

Greenville's County Council

Tony Trout's page on greenvillecounty.org

Tony Trout's web site at tonytrout.com has been taken down. Click here, however, to see the google cache of the page from Sept. 28, 2008. Click here to see a Wayback Machine search for the site, which includes pages from 2007.