SC mental health officer charged with misconduct

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A public safety officer at the South Carolina Department of Mental Health has been charged with carrying on an inappropriate relationship with a patient being treated as a sexual predator.

Tina Lynette Howell was arrested Tuesday and charged with misconduct in office. Investigators say the 36-year-old had sexually explicit phone calls with a patient in the sexually violent predator treatment program at the Broad River Correctional Institute in Columbia.

According to warrants, the calls took place late last month.

It wasn’t immediately clear early Thursday if Howell is still employed by the Department of Mental Health or if she has a lawyer.