Columbia insurance agency employee embezzled $337,000, made false tax returns, feds say

A South Carolina woman pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $337,000 from a Columbia insurance agency and filing a false tax return to avoid paying taxes on the money, according to prosecutors.

Brenda Rodgers, 57, of Saluda, pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return, according to a Monday release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Cain will sentence Rodgers at a later date.

Evidence presented by prosecutors showed that from 2012 through 2016, while Rodgers was employed at a property and casualty insurance agency in Columbia, she embezzled by writing checks from a client’s account to herself and forging her supervisor’s name, according to a release. The U.S. Attorney’s Office did not specify which agency Rodgers was employed by at the time.

From tax years 2012 through 2016, Rodgers wrote more than 300 checks to herself totaling more than $337,000, prosecutors said. She concealed the illegal activity by making false entries in the accounting records and check stubs, and removed pages from the bank statements containing photocopies of the checks that transferred money to her account.

By doing this, prosecutors said, Rodgers avoided reporting taxable income and nearly $79,000 in tax payments over those four years.

Rodgers confessed to Richland County sheriff’s deputies that she took the money and used it to pay bills, her mortgage and car payments, according to the release.

She faces up to three years in federal prison and a $100,000 fine, when sentenced, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

This story was originally published May 6, 2019 at 11:09 AM.