Oconee County Sheriff’s Office Arrests Seneca Man on Breach of Trust Charge
- jwatt27
- Jul 16
- 1 min read

(Walhalla, SC)-------------------------------------The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office arrested a Seneca man yesterday on a charge of Breach of Trust with Fraudulent Intent, which was obtained as a result of an investigation into unauthorized purchases made with an Oconee County Government Purchase Card.
31 year old Eli Herbert Patterson, of Crosswinds Lane, was booked into the Oconee County Detention Center at around 9:10pm Tuesday. Patterson, who also has a listed address in Fort Mill, SC, was transported from the York County Detention Center to the Oconee County Detention Center and booked into jail.
Patterson was released on a $5,000 personal recognizance bond this morning.
On May 18th of this year, a Sheriff’s Office Investigator assigned to the Fraud Unit received information from Oconee County Government in regards to a Breach of Trust investigation. According to the information provided to the Investigator, Patterson was provided a County issued P-Card in August of 2024 to make purchases in relation to an upcoming drill.
Further investigation revealed that Patterson had downloaded the P-Card’s information to his Apple Pay app on his phone. In October of last year, County officials discovered suspicious charges that had been made to the P-Card totaling approximately $4,014.02.
The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office is continuing its investigation.