S.C. lt. gov. pleads guilty, resigns COLUMBIA, S.C., March 9 (UPI) -- A judge Friday sentenced Ken Ard to five years probation for campaign finance violations, hours after Ard resigned as South Carolina lieutenant governor. Judge Thomas Cooper also ordered Ard to pay a $5,000 fine and perform 300 hours of community service. Ard resigned shortly before a grand jury indicted him on four counts of unlawful reimbursement of campaign funds, two counts of failure to report on campaign documents and one count of using campaign funds for personal use, The (Columbia) State reported. The indictment charged Ard with violating South Carolina ethics laws by diverting at least $75,000 in campaign funds to others, and then back to himself, identifying the funds as "purported contributions from citizens." Ard used campaign funds to pay for clothing, iPads, a television set and tickets to football games, prosecutors said. After entering a guilty plea Friday, Ard offered an apology he said was "from the bottom of my heart." "Your honor, I can't undo anything," he said. All I can do is say I'm sorry. Defense lawyers said Ard, a Republican, had unintentionally made mistakes in handling campaign funds, but South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson told the court, "We would not have pursued the prosecution of a mistake." South Carolina state Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell will succeed Ard as lieutenant governor.