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CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A South Carolina man and woman pleaded guilty to illegally collecting nearly $116,000 from the
state Workers' Compensation Commission by pocketing checks meant for the widow of a dead West Virginia miner.
Prosecutors say the scheme went on for more than 15 years.
Kevin R. Sexton, 42, and Harriett Miller, 60, both of Georgetown, S.C., appeared Tuesday before Kanawha Circuit Judge
James Stucky on felony charges of fraudulent schemes. The two were married but are now separated.
Assistant Prosecutor Rob Schulenberg told the judge that Miller was a neighbor of Hazel Allen in South Carolina. Allen
and her husband, Clyde, previously lived in West Virginia where, in 1941, Clyde was killed in a mine roof fall. Allen
was awarded lifetime Workers' Compensation payments and received them when she lived in Kanawha County and later when
she moved to South Carolina.
After the widow died there in 1987, Miller continued to take the checks, which were delivered to a communal mailbox for
the building where the two women lived. She forged Allen's name on the checks and on forms sent by Worker's Compensation.
"I cashed checks that did not belong to me," Miller told Stucky. "And I did it for a few years."
Schulenberg said Miller, and later along with Sexton, did it for 15 1/2 years, moving numerous times to different states.
He said they sent change of address forms to Worker's Compensation as well as questionnaires sent by the agency, forging
Allen's name.
"And if a check didn't arrive, she even called to complain," Schulenberg said. "She said she was Hazel Allen."
"She passed herself off as Allen," Schulenberg said. "And as Allen's daughter so she could get a death certificate from
Vital Statistics."
Miller said she felt bad about taking the money.
"When I heard they were going to investigate, I thought, 'Good,'" she told Stucky. "It's over. I don't know why I done
such a thing. Because I was raised better than that.
"It was a time when I needed financial help and couldn't get it," said Miller, who told the judge she hasn't held a job
in many years.
Sexton also pleaded guilty to participating with Miller to steal $9,000 worth of checks from Worker's Compensation. He
told Stucky he is unable to hold a job because of mental and physical disabilities and collects Social Security
Disability benefits.
Miller also said she collects the same benefits because she had breathing problems and anxiety attacks.
Miller has been incarcerated at South Central Regional Jail since she was arrested Aug. 5 in lieu of $5,000 bond. Sexton
is free on bond.
Both will be sentenced Oct. 16. They face a possible penalty of one to 10 years in prison.
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Miner died in 1941 roof fall, widow got comp check until her death in 1987, then neighbors forged documents to keep
payments coming.