Jun 25, 2013

An Original Type Of Fraud

     From Inside NOVA, which, I think, stands for Northern Virginia:
A former Woodbridge woman was sentenced Friday to one day in prison, plus three years of supervised release, for committing Social Security fraud by helping her husband claim he was dead. ...
According to documents on file at U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Rios’ husband, Luis Melecio Rios Guizado, was wanted on charges of taking indecent liberties with a minor in Prince William County in 2007 when he fled to Peru, his native country.
Rios visited Guizado there and her gave her a false Peruvian death certificate, claiming he had died, “in order to have the charges filed against him in Prince William County dropped,” according to a news release from the Social Security Administration. ...
According to court documents, Rios presented the fake death certificate in Prince William General District Court in May 2007, in order to quash her husband’s outstanding warrant. She then presented the fraudulent document to the Social Security Administration in June 2007, so she could collect survivors’ benefits for herself and her five children, court documents state.
Authorities say that Rios and her children collected $127,000 in Social Security benefits between June 2007 and May 2011.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Will she get to watch TV during her one day in prison? Boy, does this really send a message to stop fraud!

Anonymous said...

SSA will also probably attempt to recoup the "overpayment" by reducing her current payments $50/month.

What a system!!

Anonymous said...

Since fraud is involved, unrestricted reopening applies and they will terminate the benefits. In addition, whenever she becomes entitled to any other benefits, they can be recovered by full withholding - the key is the fraud finding. In addition, any tax refunds or other sums due can be withheld - remember the upset within the rep community when you all discovered that EAJA fees could be withheld to withhold debts owed to the government?

Anonymous said...

OMG! How many people would trade 1 day in jail for $127,000 in tax free money, with no interest to repay when (or if) caught in negotiated monthly payments?