SC woman stole money from employer for cosmetic surgery, travel & more, prosecutor says
A Columbia woman is heading to federal prison for stealing nearly $300,000 from an area business where she worked, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Kathy Drawdy Stewart, 62, pleaded guilty to multiple counts of wire fraud, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Wednesday in a news release.
Stewart was sentenced to 15 months behind bars, according to the release. There is no parole in the federal system.
From 2016 through May 2023, Stewart embezzled more than $270,000 from her longtime employer, LTC Associates Inc., the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. LTC Associates is an interior design and architecture firm, where the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Stewart served as the company’s business manager.
Stewart regularly made unauthorized payments from the company’s bank accounts to her personal American Express account, according to the release.
The embezzlement was discovered after she attempted to make an unauthorized $20,000 transfer from the company’s bank account to her American Express account in May 2023, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
A review of her American Express account showed that Stewart spent more than $100,000 on cosmetic procedures, travel, interior decorating, and retail from 2016 until May 2023, according to the release. There was no word if Stewart spent all of the embezzled money.
In addition to her prison sentence, Stewart was ordered her to pay more than $270,000 in restitution, which she paid prior to sentencing, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Stewart was also fined $10,000, and her prison sentence will be followed by two years of court-ordered supervision, according to the release.
The case was investigated by the FBI Columbia Field Office.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elle Klein and Elliott Daniels prosecuted the case, and Columbia attorney Jonathan Gasser represented Stewart, records show.
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