FBI Investigating Mother, Son In Elderly Fraud Scheme

North Carolina officials say more arrest warrants have been issued in a fake handicap license plate scheme, and the main suspect has been tied to a scam involving her convicted felon son in Florida.

Sue Carswell Hyder of Bostic was arrested last Friday by inspectors with the NC Division of Motor Vehicles. Up until then, Hyder operated the DMV license plate agency in Forest City. Investigators say she and four of her employees, including her daughter and graddaughter, created fake handicap placards and issued them to non-disabled people.

In North Carolina, DMV contracts with private businesses to operate license plate agencies (LPAs) which offer vehicle registration services, license plate renewals, replacement tags and duplicate registrations.

Hyder owns the LPA in Forest City. Martha Joe Bradley, the manager of the LPA, and Jason Pruett, a former employee, were also arrested on Friday. Hyder is charged with three felony counts of government computer access and one count of common law forgery. Bradley is charged with one felony county of notary fraud. Pruett is charged with one felony count of common law forgery. All three have bonded out of jail.  

Authorities revealed Tuesday arrest warrants have also been issued for Hyder's daughter, Cynthia Kiser, and her granddaughter, Michelle Leigh Brookshire. A DMV spokesperson says both women worked for Hyder at the license plate agency and participated in the handicap plate scheme. She says Kiser will be charged with four felony counts of government computer access and common law forgery, and Brookshire will be charged with three felony counts of government computer access and common law forgery. The women had not been arrested as of Tuesday afternoon.

Investigators with DMV say the suspects entered false information in the DMV database and forged doctors' signatures in order to issue handicap placards on at least twelve occassions.

"We only know of 12 instances at this time, but we are investigating to see how many handicap placards were issued by this LPA and how many of those were fraudulent," says Marge Howell, spokesperson for NC DMV.

The Forest City LPA has issued more than 100,000 license plates since January 2009. DMV is checking to see how many of those were handicap plates. Howell says at this time, it is unknown if Hyder or any of the other suspects made a profit off of the fake tags. She says the FBI has taken over the investigation because of its connection to another scam -- allegedly orchestrated by Hyder's son.

ALZHEIMER'S PATIENT SCAM

Polk County authorities confirm Sue Hyder is being investigated by the FBI in connection with a vulnerable adult scam that has victims in North Carolina and Florida. Hyder's son, Terry Hyder, was arrested last week on fraud charges in Orlando, FL. Investigators say he cheated the families of Alzheimer's patients out of $500,000 by selling them fraudulent tax certificates. They believe he may have fleeced $120,000 from an elderly Polk County woman using the same scam. Investigators think he met that victim through his mother who established a relationship with the victim when she came to the DMV agency in Forest City to get her tag. And they believe Sue Hyder may have recruited more victims for her son.

"That's why investigators with the FBI are moving foward to determine if anyone else was affected," says Howell.

Sue Hyder has not returned calls seeking comment.