A judge in South Carolina added 5 more years to a woman already serving federal time. The sentence was declared on Friday, June 14, 2024. The woman stole $1 million and spent it on plastic surgery, day spas, trips, and a BMW.
A History of Fraud
Lisa Buza Hill, 44, of Belmont, North Carolina, pled guilty to breach of trust. In 2020, she was the chief financial officer at GRH, a Rock Hill Riverwalk development company. She stole $1.1 million as the CFO but asked for a lenient sentence. Judge Dan Hall sentenced her to a maximum of 5 years under the plea deal between the prosecutors and Hill. The hearing was held at the Moss Justice Center in York.
Judge Hall said her theft case was the worst he had ever witnessed from someone in a position of authority. Federal prosecutors named Hill a “serial embezzler” because she has had three federal fraud convictions since 2012 from companies in North and South Carolina. According to the Friday testimony, she stole more than $800,000 from a motorcycle business in Charlotte in 2012 and over $22,000 from a different Charlotte company while paying restitution. Afterward, she was convicted of the Riverwalk case wire fraud.
HOA Money Stolen
According to company officials and prosecutors, Hill also stole money from the homeowners association at Riverwalk. She oversaw the money for 8 months in 2020 until she was caught. Debbie McMillan, a GRH employee, said Hill was given opportunities to change her ways, but she chose dishonesty and fraud.
Will Anderson, the 16th Circuit assistant solicitor, laid out a list of expenses she made using the stolen funds:
- Spas and beauty lounges
- Hundreds of dollars on DoorDash, grocery deliveries, and restaurants
- Clothes and jewelry
- $6,900 on cosmetic surgery
- A child’s college tuition fees
- Thousands for those close to her, including a boyfriend and former boyfriend
- Attorney’s fees from previous court cases
Pleading Guilty
Hill asked Judge Hall for mercy, stating she had changed because of her time in prison. She apologized to the victims and the people she hurt. Hill says she does not forgive herself and admits she was a terrible human being. Moreover, she admitted she may not have stopped if she had not been caught.
The Reason for 5 More Years
Hill’s sentence for wire fraud would be 57 months in federal prison. Her attorney, Thomas Bowen of the 16th Circuit Public Defender Office, asked Judge Hall to credit her for her time served because the federal and state charges were connected.
Bowen argued Hill was punished enough. However, Hall agreed with prosecutors that theft differs from a federal court wire fraud conviction. The federal charge did not account for the lives and victims affected in South Carolina. Hill was supposed to be released from prison by December. With the new sentence, she must be transferred from federal prison to the SC state prison.
