A former Swisher International tax manager and her unemployed husband entered not guilty pleas to fraud and grand theft at their Tuesday arraignments in Jacksonville.
Our Florida Times-Union news partner reports more details were provided about what the $5 million embezzled from the cigar company was used for, citing Duval County court records.
Along with $500,000 used to buy a Fernandina Beach condominium, Richard Everett Camp’s recently released arrest warrant shows that $51,000 more went for a car, one of nine bought since the first “bogus invoices” were created at Swisher to transfer money to a Macon, Ga., business owned by a “close personal friend of this suspect.”
The warrant also says Camp bought guns, ammunition and gold in anticipation of the failure of the U.S. government, as well as a Georgia farm and the tractors to work it.
“It is abundantly clear that this suspect is very aware that his wife has been stealing from Swisher International for the last year,” the warrant states in summation. ”... He has used the proceeds from the thefts to make purchases of numerous items for his own benefit.”
Gretchen Michele Camp, 36, was first arrested Dec. 3 and charged with grand theft, then released on bail the next day after a State Attorney’s Office investigation showed a lavish lifestyle may have been funded with money diverted from the almost century-old cigar company, court records show. Her 35-year-old husband was charged Dec. 13 with organized fraud and nine counts of money laundering, court records showing he bailed out two days later.
Then Gretchen Camp was arrested again Christmas Eve on additional charges of grand theft of more than $100,000 and schemes to defraud, released the next day, jail records show. The charges in both of her arrests have since been consolidated, the State Attorney’s Office said. Both live in Yulee, according to arrest reports.
A longer story with additional background information about the case is at Jacksonville.com.