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by JENN WOOD
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Two Aiken, South Carolina men at the center of a lurid case involving a fraudulent will, an elderly woman with dementia and a scheme to steal millions of dollars from her rightful heirs have been sentenced to federal prison.
On Tuesday (September 16, 2025), U.S. district judge Joseph F. Anderson Jr. sentenced Cody Lee Anderson, 38, to two years behind bars for conspiracy to commit bank fraud. His co-defendant, Thomas Allen Bateman, 51, received the same sentence earlier this year.
As FITSNews previously reported, Anderson – a former Republican candidate for S.C. House District 84 – and Bateman were accused of orchestrating a conspiracy to take control of the estate of Mary Margaret Wenzel Crandall, an 88-year-old Aiken woman suffering from dementia and psychosis at the time of her death in 2022 .
Crandall’s estate was worth nearly $20 million. According to court filings, Bateman arranged for her to sign a new will in 2020 leaving her fortune entirely to him. Anderson was named as the personal representative, a role that would have entitled him to a five percent fee – about $1 million.
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RELATED | FORMER CANDIDATE ACCUSED OF SWINDLING $8 MILLION
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The problem? Witnesses later testified they never actually saw Crandall sign the document – and handwriting on the will appeared to be Anderson’s. Moreover, investigators concluded Crandall lacked the mental capacity to make informed decisions about her estate.
A sentencing memorandum (.pdf) submitted by Anderson’s attorneys indicated he attempted to distance himself from the scheme in 2021 – months before Crandall’s death – by contacting a local law firm about executing a new will that removed him as personal representative. After her death in January 2022, Anderson instructed his lawyer to withdraw his claims under the fraudulent 2020 will.
By then, though, suspicions had already been raised in probate court, triggering an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office (SCAG).
In May 2024, a federal grand jury returned an indictment against Bateman on two counts of bank fraud. At that stage, Anderson was not named. Two months later, however — in July 2024 — prosecutors filed a superseding indictment (.pdf) adding Anderson as a co-defendant and charging him with conspiracy tied to the fraudulent will.
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Anderson’s attorneys argued he played a lesser role than Bateman, highlighting that no money was ever taken and that Anderson withdrew his claims before the government’s probe began. Prosecutors countered that both men conspired to exploit a vulnerable adult – and attempted to defraud financial institutions of millions.
In the end, Judge Anderson sentenced both men to identical 24-month terms, followed by three years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system, meaning Anderson and Bateman will serve every day of their respective sentences.
This scandal carried political overtones from the very beginning. FITSNews was the first to note that Anderson – despite a history of donating to Democratic candidates – ran in the 2019 special GOP primary election for House District 84. This seat was won in August of 2019 by conservative businesswoman Melissa Oremus, who defeated small business owner Alvin Padgett in a GOP runoff election.
The case against Anderson and Bateman was investigated by the FBI’s Columbia Field Office and the SCAG’s Vulnerable Adults and Medicaid Provider Fraud Unit. It was prosecuted by assistant U.S. attorneys Scott Matthews and Winston Holliday.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
As a private investigator turned journalist, Jenn Wood brings a unique skill set to FITSNews as its research director. Known for her meticulous sourcing and victim-centered approach, she helps shape the newsroom’s most complex investigative stories while producing the FITSFiles and Cheer Incorporated podcasts. Jenn lives in South Carolina with her family, where her work continues to spotlight truth, accountability, and justice.
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1 comment
Charleston County’s Probate Court experienced criminally illegal use of procurement cards by employees, including the Judge. Also there is an old case where an elderly women’s entire estate was robbed and milked to no end by an attorney and a GAL
Why was no one criminally prosecuted?