Ex-lawmaker indicted for embezzlement, exploitation

By Bernard Baker

Published: November 14, 2008

YANCEYVILLE, N.C. — Former Caswell County state Sen. Hugh Webster was indicted Thursday for embezzlement and the financial exploitation of his 80-year-old aunt by a Caswell County Superior Court grand jury.

The indictment against Webster stated he took a $12,115.49 cashier’s check designated for Doris Hicks Nance and knowingly used the money for himself. The exploitation charge states Webster, who is Nance’s nephew and accountant, intended to deprive her of the funds.

Webster, 65, didn’t mince words about the charges Friday.

“Political (expletive),” he said as he walked out of the Caswell County Courthouse.

Webster, a veteran Republican who lost his seat in the state Senate in 2006, called the charges political retaliation but did not elaborate.

Webster’s bond has been set at $50,000 unsecured. He is scheduled to turn himself in to the Caswell County Sheriff’s Office at about 9 a.m. Monday.

Webster said he plans on holding a news conference prior to turning himself in to plead his innocence.

“I’m not dead yet,” Webster said.

An affidavit states Webster’s aunt spoke to special agent Andrew W. Pappas with the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation in August regarding the problem she was having with her nephew.

Nance told Pappas that she gave Webster power of attorney on Aug. 28, 1996, and gave him four Fidelity Bank certificates of deposit shortly there after, according to the affidavit.

Nance said she asked Webster for the interest on those four CDs, but she became concerned when she got the money from only three of the CDs, Pappas wrote in the affidavit.

Nance later withdrew $12,115.49 from an IRA account and received the money in a cashier’s check on April 19, 2007, Pappas wrote. The affidavit states Nance endorsed the check and gave it to Webster to invest through the State Employees Credit Union because Webster said he could get her a higher rate of return.

Nance told the investigator she continued to ask Webster for her money, but was not successful.

He claimed to have had a stroke and didn’t know what happened to the fourth CD, Pappas wrote.

Nance revoked the power of attorney May 25, 2007, according to court papers.

In an interview with Pappas, Superior Court Clerk John Satterfield said that Nance shared with him her concerns over Webster’s handling of the CD and the IRA proceeds.

The affidavit said Webster gave his aunt a $5,000 personal check in May 2007, but she wanted the rest of her funds totaling $7,115.49.

Eventually Nance hired a lawyer, Jim Tolin, to get the rest of her money back from Webster, court records show.

Webster responded to a letter from Nolin seeking the funds and claimed Nance gave the money to him as a gift and said he deposited the funds in a Yanceyville bank.

• Contact Bernard Baker at or (434) 791-7986.