LEXINGTON — For more than three years, a sheriff's deputy allegedly routinely used her access to a Department of Motor Vehicle database to harass someone, leading to her resignation and arrest, the State Law Enforcement Division announced April 16.
Lorna Shay Elders, a 37-year-old deputy with the Lexington County Sheriff's Department, used her ability to access private DMV records to find information on an unnamed person. Then Elders would show up to that person's residence uninvited and run license plate information of guests at the residence through the DMV database for "no legitimate purpose," according to the incident report.
That occurred between May 2020 and September 2023. Elders, who'd been with the Lexington County department since March of last year, was charged with harassment in the first degree, two counts of improper examination of private records and two counts of misconduct in office.
Under federal law, data from the state's DMV is available to local law enforcement agencies for official use, a spokesperson for DMV said.
She voluntarily resigned Feb. 15 amid an ongoing investigation into the problems, Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said.
“Deputies are held to a higher standard and maintaining a high level of trust is a key part of that," Koon said in a statement.
Elders had been an officer since August 2018, according to personnel records. She worked as a Richland County Sheriff's deputy for just under five years, with a stint as a parole officer before transferring to Lexington.
Prior to her arrest, Elders had not been flagged for any misconduct, according to her personnel file.
