Midlands woman went on a shopping spree with dead person’s credit card, SC cops say

A Midlands woman was arrested on suspicion of stealing a dead person’s credit card and using it on a shopping spree, the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office said.

Kimberly Sue Bowers was charged with financial transaction card fraud of a value more than $500 in a six-month period, the sheriff’s office said in a news release. Bowers was not charged with any crime connected to the person’s death, according to Sumter County court records.

Information on Bowers’s relationship to the person was not available.

The 45-year-old Sumter resident admitted to taking the person’s credit card after finding the body on Oct. 11, according to the release.

In a week, Bowers used the card to get money and goods, the sheriff’s office said. From Oct. 11 to 18, Bowers spent $2,647.34 on the card, according to the release.

There was no word on what she is accused of buying with the stolen card.

Bowers was taken into custody on Nov. 18, and was released from the Sumter-Lee Regional Detention Center that same day after posting a $2,500 bond, the sheriff’s office said.

If convicted, the maximum punishment Bowers would face is a year in prison and a $1,000 fine, according to South Carolina law.

Bowers has been convicted on previous charges of civil and traffic violations in Sumter County, court records show. In 2020, she was the defendant in an eviction case in which the court ruled in favor of the plaintiff, according to court records.

A Midlands woman was charged with financial transaction card fraud, the sheriff’s office said.