Ex-Beaufort Co. official violated ethics act by using staff for personal project
A former high-ranking Beaufort County employee violated the state’s ethics act by using his position to obtain free architectural work for a personal home renovation, the South Carolina Ethics Commission has ruled.
The Dec. 11 decision came more than a year after the commission first received a complaint about Eric Larson’s behavior and he resigned from his role with the county.
Larson, who served as the county’s Capital Improvements Project director until his resignation in June 2024, was found to have knowingly used county time and resources to have one of his subordinates draft architectural plans for a sun room addition in his home, according to the Commission’s written order obtained by The Island Packet by the complainant.
Larson’s was one of a string of high profile positions that were vacated following the aftermath of former County Administrator Eric Greenway’s exit from Beaufort County in 2023. He was also one of several former Beaufort County employees to face ethics complaints for their conduct while employed.
Larson is now Jasper County’s director of development services, County Administrator Andrew Fulghum told The Island Packet.
How Eric Larson violated SC’s ethics law
The commission determined that Larson violated the state’s ethics law by having a county employee, who reported to him directly, work on a personal project during the workday while using county equipment.
The employee, Construction Manager Mark Sutton, testified that he spent at least 20 hours of county time creating and revising the plans. He also said he felt pressured to comply with the requests of his superior, who had previously discussed promoting Sutton, according to the report. He told the commission that Larson would stand at his desk until edits to the plan were made.
He told the Commission that when Larson received the ethics complaint, he encouraged Sutton to deny he worked on the plan during county hours. Sutton retired from his county job earlier this year.
Larson argued that when he approached his employee about the work, Sutton offered to do it for $1,000, which Larson said he fully intended to pay. He testified that any workplace conversations they had about the plans would happen in between county tasks and that he did not stand over Sutton’s shoulder to make sure he did the work at the office.
The ethics act prohibits public employees from knowingly using their position to obtain an economic interest, or anything more than $50, for themselves. The commission found that Larson had done this, and that county time and resources were used to create the plan.
What happens next
The Ethics Commission issued Larson a public reprimand, or a formal statement of disapproval for the official’s ethical violation. They also ordered him to pay a $2,000 civil penalty, a $1,500 administrative fee and to reimburse Beaufort County nearly $2,000 for the value of the architectural work.
