Colleton County, S.C. lieutenant made 2,700+ unauthorized Flock license-plate searches on 14 people over a year, fired

On August 20, 2026, the Colleton County, South Carolina Sheriff's Office fired Lieutenant Ruben Carter after an internal audit found he had made more than 2,700 unauthorized searches of the department's Flock automated license-plate-reader system over the course of about a year. The audit found Carter had searched for 14 individuals -- including himself, fellow deputies, friends, and former associates -- using database access meant for official law-enforcement purposes only.

The misuse was uncovered after Sheriff Guerry "Buddy" Hill Jr. directed the department's Office of Professional Responsibility on August 11, 2026 to take over auditing of the Flock system, and the agency activated Flock's newly released "Audit Assistance" tool the following day. An OPR lieutenant flagged Carter's unauthorized searches on August 13; Carter, who had served with the agency since 1998 and was assigned to the Edisto Beach area, was fired a week later.

Hill asked the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) to investigate Carter's conduct for possible criminal charges; SLED accepted the case, which remained open as of this recording. In a news release announcing the termination, the sheriff's office said: "There is zero tolerance within this Sheriff's Office for the abuse or misuse of law-enforcement technology or the violation of a citizen's privacy for personal or unauthorized purposes." In response to the incident, Hill revoked individual deputies' standing access to the Flock system, limiting routine searches to the department's Communications Division, requiring after-the-fact audits of any temporary investigative access granted during a case, and instituting weekly reviews by the Office of Professional Responsibility.