Prison employee was fired and arrested, South Carolina officials say. Here’s why
A Midlands man who worked for the South Carolina Department of Corrections was fired and arrested for using his state-issued credit card to pay for personal expenses, officials said Tuesday in a news release.
Taylor Weston Earp, a 31-year-old from Pelion, used the state-issued credit card to pay for high-priced gas to fuel privately-owned vehicles, according to the release. Now, South Carolina officials are trying to make him pay the price for crimes that include breach of trust, obtaining goods under false pretenses and forgery.
Another part of Earp’s punishment was getting fired, as the credit card was only to be used for S.C. Department of Corrections vehicles, officials said. The Lexington County resident had worked in the S.C. Department of Corrections vehicle maintenance department, according to the release.
From Jan. 1 to June 5 of this year, Earp bought gas in Lexington County which was believed to be used to fuel an S.C. Department of Corrections vehicle, according to an affidavit. But the gas was actually dispensed into Earp’s personally owned vehicle, as well as another privately owned pickup truck driven by an unknown person, the affidavit said.
Earp would use the credit card to activate the gas pump, fuel his own vehicle, then use it to fuel the other vehicle before he returned the nozzle to the pump, according to an affidavit.
Earp was seen pumping the gas on surveillance footage, and it was determined that he had bought gas with the credit card that was “inconsistent with SCDC fleet requirements, and mileage logs were not maintained,” the affidavit shows. Transaction records showed that the credit card was used to purchase premium-grade gas, which was not authorized for the S.C. Department of Corrections vehicles, according to an affidavit.
Earp spent $2,029 at Circle K and Quik Trip locations to buy gas for the other vehicles with the credit card that was only to be used to fuel S.C. Department of Corrections vehicles, according to an arrest warrant.
Earp was arrested July 1, Lexington County court records show. He was issued $2,000 personal recognizance bonds for each of the charges, and they were posted the same day that Earp was arrested, court records show. He’s not listed on the Lexington County Detention Center’s inmate roster.
Court records show that Earp has been found guilty of multiple separate traffic violations in recent years.
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This story was originally published July 8, 2026 at 9:01 AM with the headline "Prison employee was fired and arrested, South Carolina officials say. Here’s why."
