June 24, 2009 letters to the editor
Published: June 24, 2009
Updated: July 2, 2009
Wilmeth case about ‘lost trust’
Ms. Wilmeth approached the judge and made a statement to the judge in such a low voice that couldn’t be heard by most people in the court room. Ms. Wilmeth did not turn around to the victims directly and state an apology.
A victim stated that “she and her family loved Ms. Wilmeth” and “it’s a sad day for all of us today,“ but it wasn’t expressed in the article that the victim also stated to the judge that we as a community will not support “elder abuse” and “lost trust,“ and that is one of the things that Ms. Wilmeth is guilty of in my opinion.
When Ms. Wilmeth received the funds from her investors to back her company, she directly deposited the funds into her personal bank account. From there she diversified the funds to AMRON checking, Global Checking, payments to prior investors, Wilmeth Law Firm trust account, personal checking accounts and her attorney account. Her personal debts were paid with investors money; payments to personal credit cards, an $11,000 purchase of home furniture, payments to the IRS for her State and Federal tax liabilities, payments to Dog Guard, checks to two friends, materials and labor to build the horse barn and over $3000 to Dunes Realty for a beach house.
Many of the investors were elders in the community and came from a generation of hard work ethics, and trust in others. Ms. Wilmeth knew the wealth of these people, as their advisor and she knew they trusted her. She took advantage of them for her own gain.
One of the significant assets of the community of Hartsville has been the “trust” between each and every citizen. Now, as a result of Ms. Wilmeth’s actions and the outcome by the South Carolina justice system, the community of Hartsville has lost that trust. I ask everyone to begin to protect each other and be forthcoming with one another and let’s not allow people like Ms. Wilmeth to take advantage of us. We have a beautiful town worth our efforts to protect!
I do thank the Hartsville Messenger for their articles relating to this issue in our community.
MARY PENN JOYCE
Via e-mail
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Reader Reactions
Why is it necessary to start Bible thumping when you are trying to defend a criminal act? Ms Wilmeth willfully STOLE from people who trusted her. Not once but repeatedly. Where is the rest of the money? It seems like every time someone is caught doing something illegal, they start quoting the Bible and use religion to try to justify their behavior. Leave religion out of it for once. Look at this act from a legal standpoint only…there is NO EXCUSE for this behavior. She did not get enough punishment plain and simple.
Wow. You would think that if your family “loved” her so much you wouldn’t resort to telling just one side of the story. There was a whole lot more going on than you repeated in your attempt to continue running this into the ground. Work ethic? You have to work to have a work ethic. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. Shame on all of you out there who claim to be Christians- isn’t the basis of Christianity about forgiveness? Who among you hasn’t made a mistake? Harriet Wilmeth did a lot of good for a lot of people, but none of that seems to matter. If you want to preach to the community perhaps we should talk about forgiveness and giving people a chance to make things right. She’s in jail for heaven’s sake leave it alone. When you point a finger at someone else there are three pointing at you. Have you checked the police report this week? Be kind to others. Forgive those who trespass against us as we want to be forgiven for our trespasses.
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