Welcome to Arrest Stories. A forty-year-old former South Carolina elections director faces embezzlement and misconduct charges after investigators uncovered a web of alleged corruption involving millions in voting machine contracts, inappropriate workplace conduct, and illegal surveillance. Here's what may have happened.
Howard Knapp's downfall began in March of twenty twenty-four when the State Attorney General's Office requested the State Law Enforcement Division investigate alleged misconduct at the State Election Commission. What investigators discovered painted a disturbing picture of corruption and inappropriate behavior at the highest levels of election oversight.
The investigation revealed that a contract for new voting machines had ballooned from twenty-eight million to thirty-two million dollars, creating an unexplained four-million-dollar overrun. The contract for thirty-two hundred ballot scanners purchased in twenty twenty-four prompted an internal investigation that ultimately led to multiple terminations.
But the financial irregularities were just the beginning. Investigators found evidence of a toxic workplace environment under Knapp's leadership. In his office, authorities discovered pornography on at least one flash drive and a packet of personal lubricant. Even more shocking was what they found in Deputy Director Paige Salonich's office: a love journal containing pages of writing in Knapp's handwriting, over one hundred Post-it notes with similar messages, and several sexually explicit communications.
The surveillance aspect of the case centers on security footage showing Salonich placing an unauthorized recording device in the State Election Commission training room. This hidden device was later found in the room where commissioners met privately to discuss both Knapp's and Salonich's futures. Video captured Salonich's profane outburst upon learning of Knapp's dismissal.
On September seventeenth, the State Election Commission voted three to two to fire Knapp for inappropriate conduct, including misusing agency money for personal reasons and conspiring with management staff to falsify documentation. Commission Chairman Dennis Shedd stated that since Knapp's dismissal, they learned of additional misconduct, describing the agency as having become toxic and hostile under his leadership.
All suspects presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Do not take this report as factual, always verify facts. Thanks for watching Arrest Stories.