Socia Security Employee Pleads Guilty To Fraud

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

A former U.S. Social Security Administration supervisor has pleaded guilty to taking Social Security benefits for someone who was ineligible because he was in prison.

Constance L. Dallas, 41, of Milwaukee had worked for the agency since 1988 and was most recently an operations supervisor at the SSA Teleservice Center in Milwaukee, according to the plea agreement.

On Friday, an SSA spokesman said Dallas resigned from the agency shortly before she pleaded guilty on May 31.

Dallas admitted to one count of defrauding the government by misusing SSA benefits.

Dallas admitted she took Supplemental Security Income funds meant for a man who, in fact, was incarcerated. The man was not named in the plea agreement, and there was no indication of the relationship between Dallas and the recipient.

According to the plea agreement:

Dallas was a designated payee for the man starting in October 2008, after he was released from prison on an unspecified felony. However, the man was not eligible to receive SSI benefits because he had received $15,000 from his recently deceased mother's life insurance.

Dallas knew about the insurance but became the man's designated payee anyway.

In January 2009, the man was locked up on a probation violation and remained behind bars until May 2010.

SSI does not allow prisoners to receive benefits. Dallas failed to notify the Social Security agency and continued to receive the checks.