SC pastor sentenced for benefit fraud

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Federal prosecutors say a pastor in Batesburg-Leesville has been sentenced to five months in prison for lying on a veterans benefit form.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office says 63-year-old William C. Padgett was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Columbia on Monday. U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie also ordered Padgett to serve three years of probation.

Padgett pleaded guilty earlier this year to fraudulently obtaining disability benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Social Security Administration.

Prosecutors say Padgett had said he was unable to work because of post-traumatic stress disordered because of his service in Vietnam. But prosecutors say Padgett was working as a pastor and was concealing his salary as expense reimbursements.