Assault Charge In Pennsylvania

From the Philadelphia Daily News:

An official with the Social Security Administration testified yesterday that he "felt threatened" when a West Kensington man yelled obscenities at him over the phone and said he would "kick the s---" out of him. ...

Michael Bankoff is on trial in federal court for allegedly threatening to assault three officials at the district office in February and March 2007. ...

Earlier, during opening arguments, Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Hardy said that Bankoff, 28, formerly of E. Tusculum Street near B St., was angry because SSA had discovered that it had overpaid Bankoff more than $9,400 in disability benefits and that he would have to return the money.

The payments were made from April 2001 to May 2003, when Bankoff was ineligible for payments because he was in prison for a state conviction. ...

Defense attorney James J. McHugh, Jr. said in his opening argument that the Social Security Administration had found in 1999 that Bankoff suffered from schizophrenia and other mental disorders. "He does things impulsively, without thinking and without intent," McHugh said.