A Union woman with a history of committing crimes while pretending to be a man is in jail after allegedly posing as a local attorney to scam a Florida couple out of $8,000.

Wendy Fowler, 42, 203 A Gage Avenue, is charged by the Union Public Safety Department with obtaining money/goods by false pretense.

Fowler is accused of pretending to be attorney Billy Whitney in a series of phone calls to a West Palm Beach couple between July and September. As Whitney, Fowler offered the couple legal assistance in helping get their daughter out of the Leath Women's Correctional Facility in Greenwood. Fowler, who was also an inmate at Leath, reportedly befriended the woman and then initiated the scam after being released.

The woman's parents sent Fowler the money via Western Union believing it would pay the cost of legal proceedings required to obtain their daughter's release. They became suspicious when they came to Union to get their daughter and personally thank Whitney only to find she was still in prison and he didn't show up.

Public Safety Director Sam White said the couple then called Whitney’s office. They did not speak to Whitney directly but White said they heard a message with his voice on it and realized he wasn’t the person they’d been dealing with.

They then contacted the public safety department which initiated an investigation. Officers traced the money to Fowler and took her into custody on Thursday.

White said this was not the first time Fowler had passed herself off as a male over the phone. White said that a few years ago she perpetrated a scam in which she posed as then-sheriff Howard Wells. Also, White said Fowler had pretended to be a man while making bomb threats to Arthur State Bank.

Fowler was stil being held in the Union County Jail as of Saturday morning.