Ex-Five Rivers operators have repaid one-fourth of restitution

GEORGETOWN -- A year after admitting they stole money from their nonprofit agency here, the mother and daughter who operated Five Rivers Community Development Corp. have repaid more than one-fourth of their court-ordered restitution.

While the women have made regular payments to the court, Beulah White has fallen further behind in Five Rivers-related debts she owes to the state and federal governments.

The Whites, who pleaded guilty on March 16, could not be reached for comment.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said that agency has sanctioned the Whites for misspending $418,180 in federal grants that were supposed to be used to help low-income families.

HUD spokesman Brian Sullivan said the Whites have been banned from receiving federal grants or taking part in federal programs for three years. That ban ends in January.

The HUD money is not related to the criminal charges the Whites faced last year. HUD ordered the Whites to repay the money in November 2006, but the women did not comply with that order.

Beulah White, the agency's chief executive, pleaded guilty to three charges related to theft from Five Rivers. Judge Steven John ordered her to pay $3,500 in restitution.

A court spokeswoman said Beulah White has paid $1,885 so far.

Most of that money - $1,500 - came from the trust fund of a lawyer Beulah White had paid prior to her guilty pleas. Beulah White has paid $385 out of her pocket this past year.

Dayo White, the agency's chief financial officer, pleaded guilty to three charges and was ordered to pay $52,489.31 in restitution.

A court spokeswoman said Dayo White has paid $12,600 over the past year.

Both women also were placed on five years of probation.

Combined, the Whites still owe about $41,504. They have until 2014 to repay that money or their probation will be revoked.

The restitution amounts to about 1 percent of the $5 million Five Rivers received in state and federal grants and other funds during the agency's 10-year history.

Five Rivers was supposed to help low-income people find jobs and buy homes. Most of the nonprofit's money, however, went toward salaries, travel, Christmas bonuses, meals, shopping trips and other benefits for the Whites and their family members, an investigation by The Sun News showed.

In addition to the restitution, Beulah White continues to accrue past-due tax bills related to the operation of Five Rivers.

Prior to her guilty plea, the Internal Revenue Service had filed nearly $112,000 in tax liens against Beulah White, who is responsible for the taxes because she was in charge of the nonprofit agency.

The IRS seized some land the nonprofit owed and last year sold the property for $19,000 - or less than half of its county-appraised value.

That dent in the tax bill, however, was offset by another tax lien for $30,821 that was filed against Beulah White last year.

All told, Beulah White owes the federal government about $124,000 in past-due taxes, according to court records. That debt includes employee withholding taxes the Whites were supposed to deduct from their paychecks.

Beulah White also owes about $7,916 in past-due state taxes related to Five Rivers, according to court records.

Although the Whites pleaded guilty to six charges, the S.C. Attorney General's office dropped nine felony counts against the women in exchange for the guilty pleas.

Curtis Pauling, a prosecutor with the attorney general's office, said the deal was offered because of problems with subpoenas the 15th Judicial Circuit Solicitor's office issued to obtain evidence.

The subpoenas were issued before any criminal charges had been brought against the Whites.

Investigators also signed the subpoenas with a signature stamp obtained from the clerk of court's office rather than having the clerk of court sign them.

Both practices have since been discontinued.

"These circumstances blew a hole in the case," Attorney General Henry McMaster told The Sun News at the time. "Our chances of conviction at trial decreased dramatically despite our own certainty of the defendants' guilt. But believing it is one thing; having the evidence to prove it in court is another."