South Carolina Man Gets 14 Years in Fraud Involving Severed Hand

A South Carolina judge has sentenced the 58-year-old ringleader of a scheme to cut off the hand of a mentally disabled man to collect insurance money.

Federal prosecutors say David Player controlled the man’s affairs and gave him a small amount of money to have his hand cut off in May 2008. Player then used the $670,000 in insurance money on himself.

Player was sentenced Friday to 14 years in prison. Also sentenced was 34-year-old Gerald Hardin. He was ordered to spend three years and five months in prison for taking $5,000 to help with the scheme.

Authorities say the men tied the victim’s arm to a tree branch and cut it off with a pole saw. Doctors were not able to reattach the hand.