Ethics charges against former Richland County Councilwoman Dalhi Myers have been dismissed, following her September guilty plea to one count of misconduct in office and three counts of use of an official position for financial gain. The admission came nearly five years after she was first accused of abusing her position.
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Myers was being investigated for the misuse of county credit card funds, including on a trip to Greece, when she pleaded guilty. That plea came just weeks before she was meant to go to trial. She was sentenced to 10 years in prison for her crimes, but saw that reduced to three years’ probation and an order to pay $6,400 in restitution.
The Ethics Commission Thursday unanimously approved a joint request agreed to between the state and Myers’ attorneys to dismiss the charges against her because they mirror the criminal case in which Myers recently pleaded guilty to corruption and misuse of office.
“She has taken responsibility for those [actions] and paid restitution in those matters before a Court of General Sessions,” an attorney for the state told the ethics board at a Thursday meeting.
An ethics investigation had violated at least two parts of the state Ethics Act, including using an official position for economic gain, and failing to document purchases made with county dollars.
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Myers was indicted in 2020, following an investigation by The State newspaper that revealed the potential misuse of county credit card funds, including by Myers on a trip to Greece, at department stores and a Barnes & Noble bookstore.
After the newspaper requested public financial records from the county, Myers attempted to repay the county with a $27,000 check that then bounced twice, prosecutors alleged. She was indicted by a state grand jury in December 2020 on two dozen counts of public corruption.
Myers served on Richland County Council from 2016 to 2020 representing District 10, which includes parts of Lower Richland.
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