By Delayna Earley
The Island News
The S.C. State Ethics Commission has opened investigations into two more alleged ethics violations against former and current employees with Beaufort County.
This brings the current number of active investigations into Beaufort County, current and former, of which The Island News is aware, to nine.
The two new investigations were launched against former Parks and Recreation Director Shannon Loper and Capital Improvement Projects Director Eric Larson.
The complaint filed against Loper, who was terminated from her position in October 2023, alleges that she used a rental car paid for by Beaufort County to travel hundreds of miles, including gas, to go sightseeing during a 2022 Conference in Phoenix, Ariz.
Loper is currently facing an ethics hearing with the State Ethics Commission in October 2024, for five counts of using her position to obtain economic interest for a family member.
Additionally, Loper is currently still under investigation for allegedly using a Bobcat type vehicle and possibly an excavator owned by Beaufort County Public Works to “regrade her property and lay fresh dirt and gravel.”
Larson is under investigation for allegedly having a Beaufort County employee go out to his home, while on the clock, to measure for the addition of a sun room, and then draw up plans for the addition using Beaufort County materials.
The complainant, who wishes to remain unnamed in the story but is known to The Island News, said that the employee allegedly did so out of fear of saying “no” to their superior, who was Larson, and possibly putting their job at risk.
According to the complainant, the plans were then submitted to Beaufort County for permits so that work could begin on the addition to Larson’s home before summer.
The letters received by the complainant state that the complaints against Loper and Larson contain “facts sufficient to warrant an investigation.”
In addition to the aforementioned complaints, the S.C. State Ethics Commission is currently investigating complaints made against former County Administrator Eric Greenway, former Deputy County Administrator Whitney Richland, Special Assistant to the County Administrator Hank Amundson and Assistant County Administrator of 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.
