Former Glynn County Supervisor Sentenced to 30 Months for Defrauding Government

A former supervisor in the Glynn County Department of Public Works has been sentenced to federal prison and ordered to repay money gained from fraudulent charges to government purchasing cards.

William Harold Richards, 51, of Brunswick, was sentenced to 30 months in prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud, according to Jill E. Steinberg, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. U.S. District Court Judge Lisa Godbey Wood also ordered Richards to pay $422,168 in restitution to the Glynn County government and serve three years of supervised release following his prison term.

There is no parole in the federal system.

“Taxpayers rightly expect employees of their government agencies to handle public money responsibly,” said U.S. Attorney Steinberg. “William Richards did the opposite by defrauding taxpayers and enriching himself at their expense, and he is being held accountable for his crime.”

Court documents and testimony revealed that Richards, who was hired by the Glynn County Department of Public Works in 2010, rose to a supervisory position granting him access to employee purchasing cards and the county’s billing system. In September 2023, an investigation by the Glynn County Police Department and the FBI began after a fellow Public Works employee noticed suspicious charges on his county purchasing card.

Investigators found that Richards, responsible for coding and reconciling purchases, had fraudulently used his own county-issued card and those of other employees to make payments to a fictitious company he created. Richards then transferred the funds to his personal bank account. The fraud spanned more than two years.

He was arrested on state charges and later indicted in federal court. As part of his guilty plea, Richards admitted to using the fraudulent funds for personal purchases, including lottery tickets.

“This type of fraud increases costs for all taxpayers and erodes public trust in government,” said Keri Farley, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. “The FBI is committed to holding corrupt individuals, like Richards, accountable for their greed.”

The case was investigated by the Glynn County Police Department and the FBI, and prosecuted by Southern District of Georgia Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew A. Josephson.