Ex-county employee gets prison time for embezzling $210K
A Beaufort County Treasurer's Office employee who embezzled $210,000 from the office will serve 13 months in prison for her admitted role in the crime.
Casaundra White, 30, pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of embezzling and two counts of criminal conspiracy.
Circuit Judge Michael G. Nettles also ordered White to serve five years of probation following her incarceration, complete 100 hours of community service and repay the $210,000.
"I am so sorry to Beaufort County, to my family and my friends," White said during a hearing before she was sentenced. "I want a chance to make my wrong right. ... If you give me a chance to make this right, I will."
White was charged in May 2010 after a forensic audit of the Treasurer's Office determined she had funneled the money from public accounts into dummy corporations.
Her ex-boyfriend, Adrian Coore, 37, is accused of helping her set up the dummy corporations. Coore is charged with five counts of criminal conspiracy and is awaiting trial. He was released from the Beaufort County Detention Center in July on $125,000 bond.
Before her sentencing, White's attorney, Jason Peavy of Columbia, said probation was a more appropriate punishment for her than incarceration. White, a first-time, non-violent offender, cooperated fully with the investigation, providing information that incriminated herself and Coore, including details about a house in Jamaica that may be connected to the missing money, Peavy said.
Coore is from Jamaica.
Peavy detailed White's tumultuous relationship with Coore, saying she was beaten, assaulted and stabbed. He said she was stuck in an abusive relationship and was convinced to "go along with this criminal conduct."
Peavy also pointed to the sentencing of another "similarly aligned" Beaufort County defendant, former Clerk of Court Elizabeth Smith. Smith was found guilty in September of writing checks worth $23,500 from public accounts. Smith used the money to help pay for insurance premiums for relatives and a vacation home on Pawleys Island.
Smith was sentenced to five years of probation and 200 hours of community service.
Fourteenth Circuit Assistant Solicitor Francine Norz said the state had recommended incarceration for Smith. She said Smith, unlike White, repaid all of the missing money prior to her trial.
Nettles said he was "truly sympathetic" to White's situation and history of abuse.
"I do recognize that the codefendant is more culpable than you," Nettles said. "I truly believe you are remorseful for what you've done."
Investigators say that between September 2007 and May 2008, White and Coore set up bank accounts in the names of at least three fake corporations. White filed paperwork with the Treasurer's Office to make it appear the corporations had overpaid the county, making them eligible for a reimbursement checks.
Once the checks were issued, White deposited them into one of the dummy corporations' bank accounts and later withdrew the money for herself, prosecutors say.
In a statement Monday, Solicitor Duffie Stone he was "pleased" that White will spend time in prison.
During the hearing, White apologized specifically to a number of people, including outgoing Treasurer Joy Logan, who came under fire after White's arrest and lost to petition candidate Doug Henderson in November's general election.
Logan did not fire White in 2007 after White was caught allegedly stealing $600 in cash from the Treasurer's Office. White later resigned but was rehired by Logan.
White also apologized to Beaufort County Administrator Gary Kubic, who sat in the front row of the courtroom Monday.
"This type of breach affects the community at large and all public servants," Kubic said after the hearing. "I'm satisfied with what we have done to correct this problem."
This story was originally published March 28, 2011 at 9:10 PM with the headline "Ex-county employee gets prison time for embezzling $210K."