HTCU Sued Over Cashed Checks

Town officials filed suit claiming Heritage Trust CU and several banks allowed a former police department employee to deposit and cash checks made out to the town.

The suit, filed in state court, claims the CU, as well as Wachovia Bank and National Bank of South Carolina, failed to observe routine banking standards when they allowed Isabelle Perdue, a former payroll coordinator for the police, to endorse and deposit checks worth more than $90,000 into her personal account.

Perdue, who also oversaw the department's grants program, was charged with 13 counts of embezzlement and 16 counts of forgery. Perdue was charged with stealing about $50,000 by falsifying her time sheets and embezzling $94,000 from grants she oversaw. The suit seeks the amount of the checks, plus interest and punitive damages.

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