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Local News - February 2003 |
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Woman accused of embezzling By ALICE SMITH, LTN Staff Writer February 3, 2003 - A Lincoln County woman was arrested Thursday for allegedly embezzling thousands of dollars from a local business. Amanda Beth Combs, 32, is charged with six counts of obtaining property by false pretense and one count of embezzlement. Combs worked as business manager of Cardinal HealthCare and Rehabilitation Center in Lincolnton. In Nov. 2001, two residents transferred from Cardinal Care to other facilities, said Detective Kameron Keener. Those residents’ Social Security checks kept coming to Cardinal Care, but instead of forwarding them to the residents’ new facilities, Combs kept them, police say. Combs allegedly cashed checks from November and December of 2001 and January 2002. After she cashed the checks, Combs wrote the clients’ accounts off as bad debts and let supplemental insurance kick in, Keener said. That insurance paid for the month’s bill, so residents and their families were unaware that the checks were not being properly used. Combs told detectives that she embezzled $24,000 from Cardinal Care, and she took six residents’ checks adding up to $6,000 to $10,000. The situation came to light last July when one of the residents’ daughters, Janice Workman, moved her mother to the Brian Center. Brian Center officials questioned the status of the social security checks, Keener said. Workman called the Department of Social Security, and a representative told her the checks had been cashed. Workman went to the office and saw that the signatures on the checks was not hers or her mother’s. “(Combs) stated she was in financial trouble, and she used some of the money to buy a house in Gaston County,” Keener said. Keener said records at Cardinal Care were flawless, and it looked as though all the bills were being paid properly. The Lincolnton Police Department is aware of at least four other residents who had their Social Security checks misused, Keener said. Family members of residents at Cardinal Care can call the Lincolnton Police Department if they are concerned about the status of their checks, Keener said. Combs was released Thursday on $5,000 bond. ————— To find out if your family member’s checks were misused at Cardinal Care, call Detective Kameron Keener at the LPD at 704-736-8900.
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© 2001 Lincoln Times-News |
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