LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Wilmeth case shows crime does pay

When I was a little boy my mother taught me that crime does not pay. It seems that she might have been wrong. According to the newspaper, Harriet E. Wilmeth, former attorney at law in Hartsville, was convicted of felonious behavior and sentenced to 30 months in jail; five years probation and $228,000 in restitution.

Now, what do we have here? Securities fraud and breach of trust by an officer of the court. We have stealing, plunder, swindle, thievery, pillage, sack, misappropriation and outright theft by one who had sworn to uphold the law and who used her position to betray the trust of her fellow citizens.

According to the paper, she stole $150,000 from a church and $5.8 million from other trusting souls. That’s $5.9 million. Amazingly, she only has to pay back $228,000. That’s less than four cents on the dollar. Now, if my math is correct, subtract that from the original figure and you get $5.7 million she gets to keep, if there is any of it left. Divide that by 30 months and you get $190,733 a month. Not bad wages for a crook.

Yep, my dear old mother was wrong, crime doesn’t just pay, it pays big. That is unless you’re a dumb kid who pulls an armed robbery for about $100. Then you get about 20 years for your efforts.

The folks down at the courthouse and the attorneys over at the South Carolina Bar Association must be breathing sighs of relief and passing “high fives” over this ruling. No wonder we have such disrespect for the rule of law in our community. But we must not be unkind to Ms. Wilmeth. In the news article she did say that she still cares about her victims, that she is sorry and that intent was not to cause harm.