ALLENDALE UTILITY WORKER IMPRISONED FOR EMBEZZLEMENT

U.S. Attorney W. Walter Wilkins stated today that Edna Capers Johnson Williams, age 58, of Allendale, S.C., was sentenced in federal court for embezzling approximately $180,000 from the Town of Allendale Waterworks and Sewer System, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 658. U.S. District Judge Margaret B. Seymour sentenced Williams to one year in prison, to be followed by supervised release for three years. Williams will also be required to pay restitution in the amount of $179,528.75.

Williams pled guilty to charges between July 2002 and May 2005, she stole money from the Allendale public utility, where she worked as a supervisor, and then manipulated the records of the utility to conceal the theft. The theft was discovered when a coworker noticed what appeared to be an error in the daily tally sheet of financial transactions for the utility. When the coworker investigated, she found that Williams had changed entries relating to commercial account payments. Law enforcement was then called, and a full investigation revealed that over at least a three year period, Williams had stolen the money by receiving payments in full, then recording a lesser amount received, and pocketing the difference. By making these changes, Williams caused the daily records to balance even though she had stolen significant sums of money.

The case was investigated by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the S.C. Law Enforcement Division. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dean A. Eichelberger of the Columbia office handled the case.