Former Lexington County deputy charged with harassment, misconduct
A former Lexington County sheriff’s deputy is facing a first-degree harassment charge and two other charges after turning herself into the Lexington County Detention Center on Monday, according to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.
Lorna Elders, the former deputy, is facing two counts of improper examination of private records by a public official and two counts of misconduct in office in addition to the harassment charge.
Elders engaged in behavior that caused “intentional, substantial and unreasonable intrusion” into an unnamed person’s private life between May 2020 and September 2023, according to an arrest warrant.
The warrant says Elders frequently watched and maintained a presence near the unnamed person’s residence, and improperly used her access to a state Department of Motor Vehicles database for personal use. Over the course of several months, she used the database to view the driving records and photos of numerous people.
The warrant details one instance where Elders showed up to the unnamed person’s residence while the person had a guest over. Elders had a neighbor provide her with the license plate numbers of cars in the person’s driveway. Elders then ran the information through the motor vehicles database and had a guest’s car towed.
Elders also disclosed confidential information gathered from the database to a non-law enforcement third party, the warrant says.
Elders’ intrusion into the unnamed person’s private life led to the person suffering mental and emotional stress, according to the warrant.
Elders resigned from her position as deputy sheriff in February while the investigation was underway, Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said.
Koon said he launched an internal investigation into Elders’ actions as soon as he was made aware of them.
“Deputies are held to a higher standard and maintaining a high level of trust is a key part of that,” he said.
Elders has been released from the Lexington County Detention Center after meeting the conditions of her bond.
The state Attorney General’s Office will be prosecuting the case.
