2 ex-Hampton County top officials charged with embezzling taxpayer dollars (2024)

HAMPTON — A pair of State Law Enforcement Division investigations into financial irregularities in Hampton County saw two ex-officials indicted on allegations they stole taxpayer money.

The 14th Circuit Solicitor's Office indicted Rose Dobson-Elliott and Justin Edwards on Aug. 15, court records show. Neither had been arrested as of 2:30 p.m., spokesman Jeff Kidd said.

Dobson-Elliott served as county administrator from August 2015 to December 2022. She was charged with embezzling less than $10,000 of public funds after she allegedly used a county account for personal use in March 2023, according to her indictment. Dobson-Elliot did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Edwards, the former deputy sheriff, was charged with misconduct in office and embezzling more than $10,000 of taxpayer dollars for allegedly using county funds for personal use between April 2019 and December 2022, court records show. Efforts to contact him were not successful.

Their charges stem from separate SLED investigations, launched in 2023, that examined potential issues in the sheriff's office and with Dobson-Elliott, SLED spokeswoman Renée Wunderlich said.

Sheriff Anthony Russell brought several concerns to SLED shortly after taking office in January 2023. He said he discovered "missing equipment" after comparing his department's inventory against the invoices it had paid, according to a letter he sent to SLED. Russell requested a forensic audit.

Three months later, he asked for SLED's help investigating the county government, too.

Dobson-Elliott left her jobat the end of 2022 to work as theengineering services division director for neighboring Jasper County. Hampton's interim county administratornotified Russell in spring 2023 ofpotential misuse of a county-issued credit card. The sheriff sent the findings to SLED in a second letter.

Jasper County Administrator Andrew Fulghum told The Post and Courier on Aug. 15 that he is trying to learn more about the allegations against Dobson-Elliott and has not made any decisions about her employment.

He said he will consult the county's labor attorney about any changes to her job status, but the choice is ultimately his and does not require County Council approval.

Dobson-Elliott and Edwards are the first to face charges after questions of financial malfeasance in Hampton County have swirled for years.

Calls for accountability began after a county official admitted in 2022 that they lost track of $4.6 million from restricted accounts.

A group of locals known as the Hampton County Citizens for Active Restoration has been leading the charge, asking for a forensic audit, a deep-dive aimed at unearthing evidence of impropriety that could be used in a criminal proceeding.

Details about the misspent money have dripped like a leaky faucet.

A portion of those dollars belonged to a fund earmarked for capital projects. The South Carolina Department of Revenue recently audited the fund. It found $13.3 million was improperly used for general expenditures over more than eight years. An accounting error also left the fund short of some $360,000.

The county has reimbursed $10 million, but $3.6 million remains outstanding, the audit found.

Department of Revenuespokesman Tim Smith said the audit was conducted as part of the agency’s process to make sure local governments properly spend money collected from local sales taxes.

Smith said they did not identify specific people as part of the audit. If theDepartment of Revenueidentifies potential criminal activity, it sends that information to authorities, he said.