Columbia, South Carolina ---- United States Attorney Sherri A. Lydon stated that Brenda Rodgers, age 57, of Saluda, pleaded guilty to Filing a False Tax Return. United States District Court Judge Timothy Cain, of Anderson, accepted the plea and will sentence Rodgers after receiving and reviewing a presentence report prepared by the United States Probation Office.
Evidence presented at the hearing established that from 2012 through 2016, Rodgers was an employee of a property and casualty insurance agency located in Columbia. Rodgers embezzled by writing checks from a particular client’s account to herself and forging the name of her supervisor. During the tax years 2012 through 2016, Rodgers wrote herself 325 checks totaling over $337,000. Rodgers concealed her activity by making false entries in the accounting records and on check stubs. She also removed pages from the bank statements that contained photocopies of the checks transferring funds into her bank account. By creating false entries and removing bank records, Rodgers avoided reporting taxable income associated with her embezzlement. As a result, she avoided tax payments totaling $78,892 for the years 2012 through 2016. As for Count 4 of the Indictment, to which she pleaded guilty, the additional tax she owed that year was at least $27,222.
Rodgers confessed to deputies of the Richland County Sheriff’s Office, explaining that she used the money to pay bills, make car payments, and pay off her mortgage.
The maximum penalty Rodgers faces is three years in federal prison and a fine of $100,000.
The United States Internal Revenue Service and the Richland County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case. Assistant United States Attorney Winston David Holliday, Jr., of the Columbia office is prosecuting the case. ##
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
