Two men involved in a grisly fraud case were sentenced to prison Friday in federal court for mail fraud.
/ MGN
COLUMBIA (WACH / AP) - Two men involved in a grisly fraud case were sentenced to prison Friday in federal court for mail fraud.
U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles says Gerald Inman Player, 58, of Sumter was sentenced to 14 years in jail and was ordered to pay more than $670,000 in restitution to the Hartford Insurance Company.
Player pleaded guilty to mail fraud in September for his connection with an insurance scheme that cost a mentally disabled man his left hand.
In August, Gerald B. Hardin, 34, of Cayce pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge. Authorities say Player took out accidental death and dismemberment insurance policies on a third man and convinced Hardin to help him cut off the man's hand in exchange for a share of insurance money.
The men originally told authorities they had been trimming trees at Player's home when Hardin dropped the saw. But Hardin said Player tied the man's arm to a tree limb Hardin sawed off his hand.
Nettles says a number of insurance claims were filed by Player following the incident and the Hartford Insurance Company paid approximately $671,125 from a variety of policies.
Hardin was sentenced to 41 months imprisonment for involvement in the conspiracy, according to Nettles. Hardin participated in order to receive a pay-off of $5,000.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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