"Man allegedly stole doctor’s ID, saw 500 patients" by Jeffrey Collins | Associated Press, September 01, 2012
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A man stole a physician’s identity and pretended to be a doctor for a year in South Carolina, and now investigators are combing through medical records to see whether he harmed any of the hundreds of patients he treated, authorities said.
Ernest Addo of Austell, Ga., is charged with unlawful practice of medicine and obtaining goods under false pretense, authorities said.
Addo does not have a medical license in the United States. But he assumed a doctor friend’s identity, getting a driver’s license and presenting the massive amount of paperwork needed to prove he was a doctor. The documents were given to him by the friend in hopes they could open a medical clinic together when the real doctor returned from a yearlong trip to Ghana, Lexington County Sheriff James Metts said.
The real doctor, Arthur Kennedy, said he is embarrassed and devastated by what his friend did.
Addo did have some medical training, and acted enough like a doctor not to raise any serious suspicion beyond one nurse — interviewed after Addo’s Aug. 24 arrest — who wondered why he consulted ask.com when she questioned his treatment plan, Metts said.
The motive appears to be greed, the sheriff said. Court documents show Addo has a history of financial trouble.
Records obtained by the Associated Press show in the past 20 years, at least two dozen liens have been filed against Addo for around $200,000, including unpaid rent, credit card bills, student loans, and taxes. Addo has declared bankruptcy twice.
After Addo’s arrest last week at his Georgia home, officers found fake IDs and other documents, and Metts said it appears Addo might have tried to fake his way through other lucrative careers, too. The sheriff wouldn’t specify which ones.
‘‘He seems to be a professional con guy,’’ Metts said....
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South Carolina sure is having trouble with data:
"Hackers hit S.C. tax agency, get data from 3.6m returns" by Bruce Smith | Associated Press, November 01, 2012
CHARLESTON, S.C. — About 3.6 million tax returns from as far back as 1998 were hacked in South Carolina and specialists said Wednesday it may be the largest cyberattack against a state tax department in the nation’s history.
State and federal officials are investigating the hacking they say may have started in August and was discovered last month....
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"South Carolina says defense was weak in breach; Cyber attack hit state’s tax agency" by Seanna Adcox | Associated Press, November 21, 2012
COLUMBIA, S.C. — State officials did not do enough to prevent a cyber attack at South Carolina’s tax collection agency that exposed the personal data of nearly 4 million individual filers and 700,000 businesses, Governor Nikki Haley said Tuesday.
So who are they going to have to turn to for $ecurity?
Haley also said she accepted the resignation of Department of Revenue Director Jim Etter, effective Dec. 31.
‘‘Could South Carolina have done a better job? Absolutely, or we would not be standing here,’’ Haley said in releasing a report from Mandiant. The computer security firm was hired Oct. 12 to close the gap and determine what happened. That was two days after the Secret Service notified state officials of the breach.
And who benefit$?
The release of Mandiant’s findings follow weeks of Haley saying no one was to blame and nothing different could have been done....
And cui bono?
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Yeah, she turned out to be a real disappointment and a nothing. I guess that's why she was allowed to the lone winner that night.
Also see: Who Are the Hackers?
They are working for the government, cui bono?!
"Leaked emails from data security firm HBGary show the federal government is offering private intelligence companies contracts to create software to manage “fake people” on social media sites, possibly to manipulate public opinion or create the illusion of consensus on controversial issues."
Can't even relax on the web anymore.
Another guy who conned his way back into South Carolina politics:
"Eyes on comeback, Sanford set to run for Congress
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Nearly four years after his affair with an Argentine woman was exposed, Mark Sanford, South Carolina’s former governor, plans to announce his return to politics and run for his old congressional seat.
His spokesman Joel Sawyer said the 52-year-old Sanford would announce his bid Wednesday. The former Republican governor said last month that reports he was planning a political comeback were accurate and he was in Charleston last week looking for office space for his campaign.
Sanford’s old First District seat is open. Its former occupant, Representative Tim Scott, was appointed to the Senate seat left vacant by the resignation of Jim DeMint.
The two-term governor was seen as a possible contender for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination before he vanished from South Carolina for five days in 2009 to visit his mistress in Argentina. Reporters and others were told he was hiking the Appalachian Trail.
When he returned to the state, Sanford confessed the affair. He later called Maria Belen Chapur his ‘‘soul mate’’ and the couple is now engaged.
The international affair ended any hopes Sanford had of running for president and destroyed his marriage, which ended in divorce from his wife, Jenny.
Jenny Sanford said Monday that, after considering the race, she will not seek the First District seat, saying being at home with her family was more important.
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Who else is running?
"Democrat Elizabeth Colbert-Busch will join an already notable list of candidates. The former Republican governor of South Carolina, Mark Sanford, whose political career was derailed after he admitted an affair with an Argentine woman in 2009, announced his return to politics this week by entering the race. And Teddy Turner, the son of media magnate Ted Turner, is also running as a Republican."
I'm sorry, but years and more wars and looting later, it is just not funny anymore.
And his sister has connection$ by marriage, 'eh?
Related: Ted Turner Calls For 95% World Population Reduction
And he's supposed to be one of the "good" elite!
"In addition to Sanford, the Republican field includes Teddy Turner, the teacher son of media mogul Ted Turner; two powerful legislators; a retired sheriff; and a Libertarian. For the Democrats, the candidates are Ben Frasier and Elizabeth Colbert Busch, a businesswoman and the sister of Comedy Central host Stephen Colbert."
Who are these other unmentioned and anonymous candidates?
So who won?
"Sanford wins GOP runoff, and will face Colbert Busch
What a shock.
MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. — Former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford cleared another hurdle Tuesday in his bid for political redemption, defeating a former Charleston County council member to win the GOP nomination for the US House seat he held for three terms.
‘‘It’s been a very long journey. And in that journey I am humbled to find ourselves where we find ourselves tonight,’’ said Sanford, whose political career was derailed four years ago when, as sitting governor, he disappeared from the state only to return to acknowledge an extramarital affair with an Argentine woman.
That woman, Maria Belen Chapur, and Sanford are now engaged. She appeared at Sanford’s side during his speech.
‘‘I want to thank my God,’’ Sanford said. ‘‘I used to cringe when somebody would say I want to thank my God because at that point I would think this is getting uncomfortable. But once you really receive God’s grace and [have] seen it reflected in others you stop and acknowledge that grace and the difference he has made in my life and in so many lives across this state and across this nation.’’
With all of the precincts reporting Sanford had about 57 percent of the vote in the First District to 43 percent for Curtis Bostic. The candidates were vying in the GOP runoff after they finished as the top two vote-getters in a 16-way GOP primary last month.
Sanford will face Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch, the sister of comedian Stephen Colbert, and Green Party candidate Eugene Platt in a May special election.
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Time to hit the Globe's campaign trail!
Also see: DeMint’s resignation jump-starts S.C. campaign season
Related:
"Representative Tim Scott is a popular freshman from Charleston who is well known around the state from his year in the South Carolina General Assembly. The first black Republican to serve his state since Reconstruction, Scott could give the GOP a high-profile black member in the Senate, which currently has no black member from either party."
Now there are two (for now).
And they get treated better than the women.
