Sheriff, solicitor say it took far too long to do “appropriate” thing
By Delayna Earley
The Island News
Months after Greenville-based law firm Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd completed their investigation into Beaufort County’s P-Card system and procurement code, County Council has voted to release the report to local and state law enforcement agencies.
During their Aug. 26 meeting, Beaufort County Council members voted unanimously to release the report and any supporting documents to law enforcement.
County Council has previously told the public that the county and Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd found no criminal activity per the report and during the August 26 meeting they expressed again that they hope that law enforcement does not find anything different.
In a prepared statement read by Vice Chairman Larry McElynn during the meeting, it was promised that the report will be released to the public subject to the Freedom of Information Act if law enforcement finds no evidence of criminal activity.
The law firm was retained by Beaufort County Council to conduct the audit of the county’s procurement code and P-Card system following the firing with cause of former County Administrator Eric Greenway in July 2023.
Before voting to release the document to law enforcement, each member of council made comments regarding their feelings on the decision to release the report.
Several council members spoke up saying that they wished the report had been made available to law enforcement from the beginning.
Council member David Bartholomew said that he had been advocating for more transparency in this process since it started.
“Trust is not established by words, it’s established by actions, and I think this is an action in the right direction,” said Bartholomew on Monday.
There were a few council members who defended the time that it has taken to release the report by saying that they were following a process and waiting for the new County Administrator Michael Moore to start in his position in July 2024.
As of Tuesday morning, a copy of the report was in the possession of the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office according to Sheriff P.J. Tanner, and he said they were going to ensure that the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, S.C. Attorney General’s Office and South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) would get copies as well.
“I think that the only thing they did last night was vote to cooperate in a small way with an ongoing investigation,” said 14th Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone. “I’m disturbed and I think most people in Beaufort County are disturbed that they would even discuss or debate that, much less vote on it.”
Tanner agreed with Stone and said that he is glad that the council is doing the right thing. And while he hopes that there is no criminal activity, he cannot believe how long it took council to arrive at this decision.
“I don’t know what happened to give them all the revelation that it needed to be done,” Tanner said. “It should have been done months ago, but I’m glad they finally decided last night to do the appropriate thing.”
Both recognized that while council may have a process in mind with the handling of the report, law enforcement never should have been excluded from being able to conduct their own review of the report.
“The process is a process that they created,” Stone said. “They are playing the role of fireman when they are the arsonist.”
Tanner said that his investigators were planning to start reviewing the report and supporting documentation right away and at the very least it would be weeks before they expect to be finished.
He also said that they plan to compare the documentation provided with the report to supporting documents that were collected when they initially opened an investigation into Greenway in 2023 to make sure there are no discrepancies.
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.
