Court Clerk Suspended

The South Carolina Supreme Court has temporarily suspended the former Clerk of the Beaufort County Clerk of Court who has been indicted on charges of embezzlement of public funds. The Beaufort Tribune reports:

According to the indictments [the former clerk] is accused of

• Taking funds from the circuit court’s fines and fees account to pay for life insurance policies on members of her family;
• Taking funds from the clerk of court’s bondsmen account to pay for improvements to her family’s house at Pawley’s Island SC;
• Committing acts of “habitual negligence, fraud and/or corruption while acting in an official capacity as a public official”.

The total amount of the funds allegedly embezzled is $33,283.52.

[The former clerk] resigned today from her office as Beaufort County clerk ofcourt, according to the South Carolina governor’s office. As an electedofficial, [she] was required to submit her resignation to the governor,Mark Sanford.

(Mike Frisch)