By Delayna Earley
The Island News
Former Beaufort County Parks and Recreation Director Shannon Loper did not have her hearing with the South Carolina State Ethics Commission in October, but she was notified that she was cited for two ethics violations that carry fines.
After looking into two separate complaints filed about Loper, the ethics commission ultimately found evidence to support multiple ethics violations.
The state’s ethics commission cited concerns regarding the authorization of payments to Loper’s family members.
The initial complaint filed in October 2023 alleged that Loper paid members of her family to include her four sons almost $7,000 for coaching cheer camp and officiating sports as independent contractors for the Beaufort Parks and Recreation Department.
Loper, who was fired from her job with Beaufort County in October 2023, said in an interview on Beaufort County’s House of Cards, hosted by former County Council member Mike Covert, that she hired her sons because the department had a hard time finding qualified people to do the jobs.
The ethics commission found Loper’s actions were in violation of the South Carolina code of laws as public employees are prohibited from participating in decisions that economically benefit their family members.
Loper said in her interview with Covert that she went to the former County Administrator Eric Greenway, financial officials and the county’s legal department for permission, and they all gave their approval because of staffing shortages for the jobs.
The ethics commission did say that there is no evidence that Loper paid her son’s more than the standard rate for the jobs they did.
The commission issued a public reprimand citing five counts of ethics violations along with a civil penalty of $1,000 and a $500 administrative fee.
The second complaint filed against Loper was filed in May 2024. The complaint alleges that Loper improperly used county funds for personal expenses while in Phoenix, Ariz., on a work conference in 2022. She allegedly rented a van and house with county funds and took the van and used the van to go out to restaurants, sightseeing and to a rodeo.
It was found through an investigation that a county issued P-card was used to rent the house and van for five Beaufort County employees who attended the conference and ended up saving the county money instead of booking individual hotel rooms.
The cost of the rental home was almost $2,500, which was almost $1,800 less than the hotel rooms were estimated to cost.
It was also found that the van was used by employees for personal activities and conference-related activities, but the personal expenses were shared among the group and did not cost the county any additional money, per the decision and order.
Despite there being no evidence in the ethics commission’s investigation to show misuse of county funds, Loper was found to have authorized her own reimbursement for her daily expenses following the conference which is a potential violation of ethics rules that prohibit self-authorization in transactions with personal financial interest.
While probable cause was found in this violation, the commission declined any punitive actions and waived further proceedings.
While Loper was the first to be cited for ethics violations, she is not the only one facing an investigation by the South Carolina State Ethics Commission.
To date, there have been at least nine recent complaints filed alleging unethical behavior by Beaufort County employees.
Three were filed against Loper, two against Greenway, one against former Capital Improvement Projects Director Eric Larson, one against former Deputy Administrator Whitney Richland, one against Special Assistant to the County Administrator Hank Amundson and one against Assistant County Administrator for Infrastructure Jared Fralix.
Delayna Earley, who joined The Island News in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
