Howard Knapp/Screenshot, WIS10, State Election Commission / X.

Howard Knapp, the recently fired elections director for South Carolina, was arrested Friday on embezzlement and misconduct charges, reports The Post and Courier.

Knapp was fired after two years in office as the executive director of the South Carolina State Election Commission in September due to multiple allegations of misconduct and misuse of public funds.

The firing followed an investigation by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) that was requested by the state's Attorney General.

Knapp, being held at the Richland County jail, is facing eight charges including one count of embezzlement of public funds of a value less than $10,000, one count of misconduct in office, malfeasance, misfeasance, or nonfeasance and one count of accessory after the fact to a felony, reports The Post and Courier.

Misconduct allegations include "improper use of public property for personal use and the alleged falsification of financial documents and the promotion of a hostile and toxic work environment," the newspaper reports.

The arrest comes "after weeks of turmoil within the state’s election office," the newspaper says, in which "members of the body’s oversight board previously accused Knapp of a litany of misconduct allegations, including fostering a hostile work environment and falsifying financial documents behind the agency’s back."

Details of Knapp's firing were "kept secret until Election Board chair Dennis Shedd told reporters on Oct. 15 that Knapp’s behavior was so egregious that a secretly brokered agreement to purchase voting machines could potentially result in hundreds of them being repossessed by the bank that financed the $32 million deal," the report says.

Shedd "also accused Knapp of planting a recording device in an agency board room to eavesdrop on the board’s closed-door deliberations, confirming details previously disclosed in documents previously obtained by The Post and Courier via Freedom of Information Act."

The South Carolina House Republican Caucus reacted to the news over social media, writing on X “The @SCHouseGOP commends SLED and all involved in ensuring justice is served. Public trust depends on accountability — no one is above the law.”