Copyright held by The John Cooke Fraud Report. Reprint rights are granted with attribution to The John Cooke Fraud Report with a link to this website.
A recent South Carolina investigation has revealed a case of “Not.” A sure finalist in the “Sickest Frauds in Recent History” competition has to be that concocted by a Sumter, South Carolina, man, David Player. As the prosecution file reads, Player was a hero-like father figure to two other men; a 30-something self-described crack addict named Gerald “Trey” Hardin, and a mentally disabled 50-something man named Michael “Porkchop” Weaver, seen as an illiterate alcoholic. Player was also Weaver’s long-time legal representative and was able to take out insurance policies on Weaver that would pay off in the event of his death or dismemberment and allow Player the legal status to collect the money and spend it. Player covered Weaver well; you just never know when these things happen!
In all, the Hartford paid $671,000 after a tree-cutting “accident” cost Porkchop his lower left arm. Hardin, who’d originally met Player when he was a child and Player dated his mother, bought a Dodge Dakota pickup truck with the $5,000 he got for his participation. Player bought a house for his son, a mo-ped and a camper, and he built a storage shed on his own property. The one-armed man got nothing. And life went on.
For almost four years. Then one day the almost “ex” Mrs. Player, in the midst of a divorce from hubby David, found a briefcase full of credit cards in Weaver’s name. She turned them over to her attorney who, in turn, got them to the FBI. At that point the actual story behind the tree cutting “accident” came out.
When the incident occurred, Player and Hardin drove the injured Porkchop to the ER at Sumter’s Tuomey Medical Center and reported that they had been trimming a tree when Hardin lost control of the gas-powered Poulan Pro chainsaw (or was it a hand saw?) and accidentally cut off Weaver’s hand, The truth was that they’d tied Porkchop’s left arm to the tree, tied the arm with rags, and bzzzzzzzzzzzt. No fight from the chopped- Chop, he was in on it. ‘
Where is the hand?” asked the Docs; Hardin drove back to the house, retrieved the severed limb, and brought it back to the clinic. Weaver was transported, with his icepacked hand, to Charlotte, where doctors surgically reattached the limb. But the operation didn’t take, and the hand was amputated a week later.
Weaver was not charged due to his low mental capabilities and the fact that he had not financially benefited from the incident. David Player, considered to be the mastermind and the one who controlled the proceeds of the fraud, was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison and ordered to pay restitution. Hardin was sentenced to three years and five months in prison for taking $5,000 to help with the scheme.