Ex-Richland County employee accused of stealing thousands by altering paychecks
A former Richland County employee has been arrested and accused of embezzling thousands of dollars from the county over at least four months.
Tramier Brown, 30, is charged with embezzlement of less than $10,000 of public funds after officials say he stole money from the county by altering his paychecks.
He was employed by Richland County until last Thursday, according to county spokeswoman Beverly Harris.
A day later, he was arrested, according to the Richland County Sheriff’s Department.
A former payroll employee, Brown is accused of adding hours to his electronic payroll file, thereby boosting his paycheck by between $173 and $975 on multiple occasions, according to an incident report by the Richland County Sheriff’s Department. Officials believe Brown was adding the funds to his paycheck after the final system checks were done each pay period so that the changes wouldn’t be detected by other staff, according to the incident report.
A payroll manager first noticed the additional hours added to Brown’s paycheck in late November, prompting a complete review of his file, the incident report said.
Brown is accused of embezzling a total of $3,548.47 between August and November, according to the incident report.
Embezzlement of public funds is a felony charge punishable by up to five years in prison and/or a fine if a person is convicted.
