Amid two ongoing state police investigations, the mysterious deletion of thousands of county emails, and confirmed reports of millions of dollars in taxpayer money being embezzled, two former Hampton County officials were charged with embezzlement today (August 15).
During the August General Sessions, the Public Integrity Unit of the 14th Judicial District Attorney’s Office filed “direct charges” against the two former Hampton County officials, a former Bluffton police officer and a former civilian employee of the Bluffton Police Department, after separate interviews as part of separate investigations, the district attorney’s office said Thursday.
Former Hampton County County Administrator Rose Dobson-Elliott is accused of embezzling public funds in the amount of less than $10,000. Prosecutors said the charges stem from her alleged use of a county account for personal purposes in March 2023.
Dobson-Elliott is currently employed in Jasper County as the county’s Director of Engineering Services after leaving Hampton County in December 2022 following a controversial career.
Former Hampton County Sheriff’s Deputy and School Resource Officer Justin Edwards is accused of abuse of office and embezzlement of public funds in excess of $10,000. Prosecutors said the charges stem from his alleged use of county funds for personal purposes between April 2019 and December 2022.
Edwards was hired by the police department of the city of Estill in southern Hampton County after retiring from the HCSO. Estill Police Chief Chauncey Solomon Sr. said Thursday that Edwards was terminated from the police department on April 25.
The news release from the 14th Judicial District Attorney’s Office said there were no mugshots of the defendants and that prosecutors were unsure if they had been arrested or charged. They must appear in General Sessions Court to decide bail, but a date for that hearing has not yet been set, the news release added.
“Because these matters are pending and the investigation is ongoing, we will not provide any further information at this time,” the 14th District Court said in a press release.
The Hampton County Guardian was initially able to successfully contact the individuals in question to seek comment and determine whether they have legal representation.
The Public Integrity Unit obtained direct charges against the defendants in Hampton and Beaufort counties following an investigation by the SC State Law Enforcement Division (SLED), the district attorney’s office said.
SLED informed The 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 replaced her reported the suspicions to Hampton County Sheriff Anthony Russell, who in turn notified SLED.
That same month, Sheriff Russell also informed SLED of allegations or suspicions regarding missing equipment in his office dating back to the previous HCSO administration.
In May, SLED would neither confirm nor deny that it was investigating reports that an unnamed former county employee had deleted more than 22,000 emails because he allegedly hacked into the county’s network.
These recent developments come against the backdrop of an ongoing forensic audit in Hampton County and a report from the South Carolina Department of Revenue that found Hampton County – primarily under Dobson-Elliott’s administration – embezzled more than $3.6 million in sales tax and capital project use funds, and nearly another half-million dollars in transactions with missing receipts.
Hampton County officials also admitted in January 2022 that the previous administration had wasted approximately $1.4 to $1.5 million in fire department funds.
The prosecution said the investigation that led to the charges is ongoing and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.
Charges against Bluffton
Thomas Rauchfuss, a former civilian employee of the Bluffton Police Department, is charged with obstruction of justice in connection with the alleged theft of firearms from the police department in April 2024.
Bonificio Perez, a Bluffton police officer currently on paid administrative leave, is charged with abuse of office for allegedly assisting Rauchfuss in stealing one or more firearms.
The Public Integrity Unit is a collaboration between the 14th and 1st District Attorneys’ Offices, the Attorney General’s Office said in a news release. It consists of senior attorneys and investigators from both offices who work with law enforcement to investigate alleged public corruption, as well as officer-involved shootings and other use-of-force cases.