Police: Fort Mill woman bilked $98K from Florida man’s retirement account

A Fort Mill woman is accused of defrauding a 71-year-old Florida man of nearly $100,000 from his retirement account, according to police.

The alleged crimes happened in Lake City, Fla., and were investigated by the Lake City Police Department.

Brenda Faye Johnson Washington, 54, of the 200 block of Hemmingway Lane in Fort Mill, is charged with passing counterfeit instrument, grand larceny, fraudulently obtaining property, fraudulent title transfer and failure to remit sales tax, according to Lake City police. She was arrested Saturday in South Carolina and extradited to Columbia County, Florida, where she was jailed.

Washington was released Sunday on $65,000 bond, according to jail records.

Washington began fraudulently cashing checks from the retirement account of the 71-year-old victim in August 2015, police say, cashing five checks totaling $98,617 over a two-month period.

Relatives of the victim told officers Washington, the niece of the victim’s late wife, forged a power of attorney in order to gain access to the victim’s retirement account.

Once she had access to the account, Washington began getting withdrawals on the retirement account paid out to the victim, police said. Several of the payments were physical checks that were deposited into her personal account, and two others were electronically deposited into her bank in South Carolina using the forged power of attorney.

Additional charges were filed relating to the fraudulent filing of Florida vehicle registrations for sales amounts less than the actual purchase price for two motorcycles, police said. After the investigation, investigators filed charges and a nationwide warrant for Washington’s arrest.

This story was originally published May 25, 2016 at 2:18 PM with the headline "Police: Fort Mill woman bilked $98K from Florida man’s retirement account."