Laurens County/At-Large
Sonny was born in Tondo (Manila, Philippines) in 1964 and came to the US in 1968. He learned to speak English by being enrolled in Catholic school, reading Spiderman comics, and watching Mr. Rogers, Happy Raine, and Captain Kangaroo. In his youth, Sonny attended various DOD schools and graduated from Goose Creek High School in 1983. After short stints as a waiter, construction laborer, call center sales, farmhand, and working in an abattoir, Sonny joined the US Army and served during the Berlin Wall/Desert Storm era. After an honorable discharge he attended and graduated from the College of Charleston with a BA in Political Science.
Sonny has attended various professional leadership schools such as the Riley Institute at Furman University, the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, the FBI National Academy, the SC Criminal Justice Academy, and the South Carolina Fire Academy. Sonny was a private contractor with DynCorp and helped train Iraqi police in Baghdad, Iraq. During his twenty-five-year career Sonny had been the Chief of Police of Bishopville, SC, Laurens, SC and Clinton, SC prior to his retirement from law enforcement this past October. Sonny is currently the Director of Emergency Management of Laurens County.
Sonny has been married to the former Beth Arscott for the past 29 years and they have two adult children.