WINNSBORO – The S.C. State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) is investigating a former Fairfield County animal shelter volunteer for fraud, but the primary evidence released by the county appears to be a widely documented internet scam.
The former animal shelter volunteer is Heather Feltner, founder of an animal welfare non-profit called Hearts Unleashed. Grants and donations through Hearts Unleashed allowed Feltner to support the animal shelter and other animal welfare non-profits.
A press release issued on April 8, by Fairfield County openly raised questions regarding fundraising activities conducted in the name of Fairfield County with inferences targeting Feltner, who was identified in the press release only by her title – volunteer rescue coordinator, Fairfield County Animal Shelter.
The press release included a copy of an email in which a donor pledged $2,000 to Hearts Unleashed – the only fundraising activity noted in the press release.
The day after the county sent out the press release, SLED announced its investigation of Feltner.
In an interview with The Voice, Fairfield County Administrator Vic Carpenter was asked if the email was the basis for the SLED investigation.
Carpenter stated that the county included the donor email in the press release because, “We felt that it was, you know, just something that painted a picture.”
He did not comment as to whether that ‘picture’ was evidence of fraudulent activity.
Because she is under investigation by SLED, Feltner would not comment for this story except to say that neither she nor Hearts Unleashed received the $2,000 donation as might be inferred by the county’s press release.
The donor email may not be so much evidence of fraudulent fundraising activity by Feltner as it is a local snapshot of a nationwide scam that has targeted animal rescue and animal welfare nonprofits across the country since mid-2025.
A Google search of the donor’s email pledging the $2,000 turned up an identical donor email that was posted by Madeleine Rocha of Feline Lucky Rescue in Redwood City, CA., that was also targeted by the donor scam most frequently referred to as the ‘David Buchanan donation scam’ or the Buchanan Family Foundation scam.’ (Both the donor’s email in County’s press release and the identical scam email posted by Rocha are linked to the online story.)
According to dozens of social media posts and comments, a person named David Buchanan emails a letter to animal welfare non-profits from coast to coast, expressing interest in making a generous donation, typically around $2,000. He then sends a fake check for a higher amount, usually $4,000, and pressures the non-profit to return the difference. If they do, they lose the $2,000 and the $4,000 check bounces.
“These scammers are from Nigeria, Pakistan, India – all over the world. There’s no one who can do anything about this,” said Chris Handley, president and CEO of the Greater Columbia and Charleston Better Business Bureau that tracks this and other scams for businesses and non-profits.
“The best thing we can do for these animal welfare non-profits that are particularly targeted by the Buchanan scam is to raise awareness,” Handley said.
The Voice inquired if Carpenter had asked Feltner if she had actually received the $2,000. Carpenter replied that he had not.
“I’m not aware that she received that [$2,000] at all. So, no ma’am,” Carpenter stated. “It was something that we included because it was part of the body of stuff that we found.”
Carpenter didn’t say what else he had found, but the donor email was the only inference of fraudulent activity that was included in the county’s April 8 email.
The Voice asked Carpenter if he was aware that the email was a scam before he included it in the press release about Feltner.
“All I know, is what I know,” Carpenter said.
Shelter Turmoil
On March 27, Feltner, along with other shelter volunteers, was asked by the animal shelter manager Neely Thomasson to not come to the shelter until further notice after another volunteer emailed county officials saying she was concerned about the safety of both the shelter animals and staff. That volunteer said she sent the email about a shelter incident on Jan. 31 where a trustee was arrested for assaulting another trustee, allegations of dog fighting in the shelter, no cameras being installed in the shelter, inadequate supervision of detention center trustees, and stints of decreased feeding of shelter animals.
In an interview with The Voice in late March, Feltner talked about what she had witnessed at the shelter in the aftermath of the alleged dog fighting incident on Jan. 31.
While the shelter management continued to work with other volunteers, Feltner was notified in late March 2026, that the shelter was parting ways with her, but she was encouraged to continue fundraising for the shelter.
Investigations
The Voice reached out to Carpenter, asking if any volunteer violations or complaints had been communicated to county management that would have initiated the volunteers being ‘shut down.’
“The emails that I am aware of never inferred that,” Carpenter answered.
The county’s April 8 press release, however, contained several pages of allegations against Feltner, identifying her as “an individual volunteer that was removed from the volunteer program.” At Monday night’s county council meeting, Carpenter claimed that internal investigations by county officials have found “no evidence of improprieties or wrongdoing by any member of the shelter staff… Anything that affects the shelter staff, Sheriff and SLED have found no reason to look at [at] all,” Carpenter said.
The Voice was informed by SLED on several occasions prior to April 9 that SLED was not investigating the animal shelter.
Other than the initial incident report issued concerning the Jan. 31 fight between two detention center trustees at the shelter, neither the county government nor the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office have made available any reports of investigations regarding the Jan. 31 alleged dogfighting incident or other investigations concerning the animal shelter.