COLUMBIA — Gov. Mark Sanford has suspended Clemson City Councilwoman Elouise James following her indictment on several charges in Pickens County.

Sanford signed the suspension order on Thursday, following the Pickens County Grand Jury’s Oct. 20 indictment of James on charges that include exploitation of a vulnerable adult, forgery and obstruction of justice.

James faces charges in both Greenville and Pickens counties.

Arrested in September following a joint investigation by the 13th Circuit Solicitor’s Office and the State Law Enforcement Division, James is accused of claiming her daughter had cancer in order to get her daughter of a scheduled court hearing, police said.

The Greenville County Sheriff’s Office charged James with two counts of forgery and once count of obstructing justice.

Investigators accuse James of faxing a forged Cancer Centers of the Carolinas Physicians Order to the 13th Circuit Solicitor’s Office on May 11, 2009, according to Greenville County Sheriff’s Office warrants.

“This was done in order to try and get her daughter, Kirstyn James, excused from a court hearing,” the warrant states. “The Physicians Orders claimed that Kirstyn James had cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy.

“Through investigation, it was determined that Kirstyn James never had cancer (and) was never a patient at the Cancer Centers of the Carolinas,” the warrant continues.

In Pickens County, James is charged with two counts of obtaining goods by false pretenses and one charge of exploitation of a vulnerable adult.

According to a Pickens County Sheriff’s Office warrant, James did “improperly and unlawfully use the power of attorney of a vulnerable adult for the profit or advantage of Kirstyn James.”

James allegedly used her power of attorney to reverse the mortgage on her 90-year-old mother’s home, warrants state.

“The defendant used $15,451.60 from the mortgage to pay the remaining restitution balance for her daughter’s probation,” the warrants allege.

James is also charged with obtaining money “with the intent to cheat and defraud,” warrants state.

James allegedly “solicited money from the victim to aid in the treatment of Kirstyn James, her daughter, who purportedly suffered from cancer,” warrants state.

In his executive order, Sanford said the charges James faces all involve “moral turpitude.”

Article VI, Section 8 of the state Constitution states that “any officer of the state or its political subdivisions … who has been indicted by a grand jury for a crime involving moral turpitude … may be suspended by the Governor until he shall have been acquitted,” Sanford states in the order.

“Pursuant to the authority invested in me by the Constitution and Statutes of the State of South Carolina, I hereby suspend Elouise James from the office of Council member of the City of Clemson until such time as she shall be formally acquitted or convicted,” Sanford said.

James was first elected to Clemson City Council in 1996.