SCDOR Employee Charged with Unlawfully Examining Tax Records
Staff Report From South Carolina CEO
Monday, April 22nd, 2019
South Carolina Department of Revenue (SCDOR) agents have arrested an SCDOR employee and charged him with unlawfully examining tax returns and other SCDOR records.
David Leroy Demary, 54, of Columbia, was charged on Tuesday with unlawful examination of tax records as a public employee, a Class F felony.
According to an arrest warrant, agents alleged that Demary unlawfully accessed 20 separate business tax accounts and one individual tax account more than 500 times from January 2018 through March 2019.
Unlawfully examining tax records is generally known as "browsing."
Demary's access to the accounts was not authorized nor necessary for the performance of his job duties, according to the warrant.
Demary, who supervised the business registration section at SCDOR, had been at the agency more than 29 years.
If convicted, Demary faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison or a $5,000 fine, or both.
"While it is disheartening to arrest a longtime employee, the South Carolina Department of Revenue does not tolerate the browsing of confidential taxpayer information," said SCDOR Director Hartley Powell. "We hold our employees to high professional and ethical standards to maintain the trust the public has placed in us. Our thorough, frequent, and mandatory training ensures all employees are aware of these standards and the strict consequences for failing to abide by them."
Demary has been released on a personal recognizance bond.