Last complaint in DPS director file dates to ’97

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The last complaint made against the interim director of South Carolina’s public safety agency was made more than a decade before the attorney general’s office launched a review into new allegations against him.

Documents obtained Thursday by The Associated Press show a former trooper accused now-Col. Kenny Lancaster in 1997 of unfairly disciplining him. At the time, Lancaster was a sergeant.

Public Safety spokesman Sid Gaulden says the rarity of complaints against Lancaster speaks for itself.

The 1997 complaint investigated by Public Safety ended when the fired trooper agreed to a settlement.

Lancaster is now the subject of a complaint filed by a woman who alleges the two had an affair and that Lancaster then drummed her trooper husband off the force out of jealous retaliation.

Lancaster has declined comment.