Two former Hampton County public officials charged with embezzlement received their first day in court Thursday, as bonds were set and official arrests and bookings were made.
On Aug. 15, former Hampton County Administrator Rose Dobson-Elliott was charged with embezzlement of public funds in an amount less than $10,000, while former Hampton County Sheriff’s Office Deputy and School Resource Officer Justin Edwards was charged with misconduct in office and embezzlement of public funds greater than $10,000.
Dobson-Elliott and Edwards appeared for bond hearings Thursday morning before 14th Circuit Court Judge Carmen Mullen during H.C. Court of General Sessions.
Dobson-Elliott was granted a $10,000 personal recognizance bond, while Edwards was given a $40,000 PR bond, reported the H.C. Clerk of Court’s Office.
Both were allowed to turn themselves in to the H.C. Detention Center for formal arrest and booking, and both were booked at the HCDC Thursday and released. No trial dates have been set yet.
According to the H.C. Clerk of Court’s Office, Dobson-Elliott was represented Thursday by Beaufort County attorney Jim Brown of the Law Offices of Jim Brown, P.A.; and Edwards was represented by Bluffton attorney Tabor Vaux of Vaux Marscher Berglind, P.A.
On Aug. 15, the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s office announced that the former Hampton County officials had been “direct indicted” during the August General Sessions Court by the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office Public Integrity Unit.
The solicitor’s office stated that Dobson-Elliott’s charge stems from her alleged use of a county account for personal use in March 2023.
Dobson-Elliott previously served in Hampton County as its administrator until leaving Hampton County in December 2022 to take a position in neighboring Jasper County after a controversial career. Dobson-Elliott was employed in Jasper County as the county’s Director of Engineering Services until Aug. 19 when she was “no longer a Jasper County employee,” Jasper County Administrator Andy Fulghum said this week.
The solicitor’s office said Edwards’ charges stem from his alleged use of county funds for personal use between April 2019 and December 2022 while employed at the Hampton County Sheriff’s Office.
After leaving the HCSO, Edward was employed at the Town of Estill Police Department in the southern portion of Hampton County. Estill Police Chief Chauncey Solomon Sr. said last week that Edwards was separated from service with the EPD on April 25.
The Public Integrity Unit secured the direct indictments against the defendants in Hampton County following an investigation by the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division (SLED), the solicitor’s office said.
The indictments and subsequent arrest come amid two ongoing state police investigations, the mysterious deleting of thousands of county emails, and confirmed reports of millions of misspent taxpayer dollars.
SLED informed The Hampton County Guardian in February that it was investigating allegations of breach of trust and unauthorized credit card use against Dobson-Elliott after an interim administrator who reported her suspicions to Hampton County Sheriff Anthony Russell, who then notified SLED.
The same month, Sheriff Russell also notified SLED about allegations or suspicions of missing equipment in his office that dated back to the previous HCSO administration.
In May, SLED would not confirm or deny that it was investigating reports of more than 22,000 emails being deleted by a former, unnamed county employee who allegedly hacked into the county network.
These recent developments are set amid a Hampton County backdrop that includes an ongoing state forensic audit and a report from the S.C. Department of Revenue that Hampton County, primarily under Dobson-Elliott’s administration, misspent more than $3.6 million in Capital Projects Sales Tax and Use Funds, with almost another half million dollars in transactions unaccounted for with receipts.
Hampton County officials also admitted in January 2022 that the previous administration misspent roughly $1.4 to $1.5 million in Fire Department funds.
The solicitor’s office said the investigations that led to the indictments continue and all defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in court.
The Public Integrity Unit is a collaboration between the 14th and 1st Circuit Solicitor’s Offices. It consists of senior-level attorneys and investigators from both offices, who work with law enforcement agencies to review alleged public corruption, as well as officer-involved shootings and other use-of-force cases.