South Carolina Man Admits to Sawing Off Man’s Hand for Insurance Money

A South Carolina man pleaded guilty this week to a federal fraud charge, acknowledging his role in an insurance scheme that cost a mentally disabled man his left hand. Gerald B. Hardin of Cayce told U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie during a court appearance in Columbia that he used a pole saw to cut off the hand of a mentally disabled man in Sumter County in 2008. Hardin, 34, had originally faced six fraud charges. But under a plea deal with prosecutors, those counts were dropped, and Hardin was allowed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud. In return for that felony plea, Hardin has agreed to help prosecutors in their case against a third man, David Player.