From a press release:
A former Social Security Administration (SSA) employee pleaded guilty today to a federal criminal charge for stealing more than $176,000 in Social Security benefits designated for elderly and disabled beneficiaries.
Rowena Isabel Lokeni, 36, of Garden Grove, pleaded guilty today to one count of wire fraud. Lokeni was hired as an SSA service representative in 2008 and worked in the administration’s field office in Fountain Valley. She resigned from SSA shortly after her September 6 arrest on a federal grand jury indictment in this matter.
From her work cubicle, between April 2017 and August 2019, Lokeni accessed the SSA computer databases and queried the records of 10 Social Security beneficiaries, according to her plea agreement. Once she accessed the victims’ records, Lokeni fraudulently changed each victim’s direct deposit bank account and routing numbers to instead reflect her personal bank account’s routing and account numbers, the plea agreement states. ...
United States District Judge John F. Walter has scheduled a January 6, 2020 sentencing hearing, at which time Lokeni will face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. ...
7 comments:
With all these stories coming out, I wonder if the Agency will ever consider drug testing. I understand not all of these employees are involved with drugs, but I wouldn't be surprised if many were.
As Bugs Bunny would say; "What a maroon!"
She rerouted benefits to her OWN bank account. Did she really think she would get away with that? Did she not think that the people whose benefits she stole wouldn't complain?
Not the sharpest knife in the drawer.
More fraud from WITHIN SSA. Do they not do any research into their employees before hiring them? It's so hard to get SSDI benefits, it should be just as hard, if not HARDER, to get a job working there. BONDING would be a good idea, considering they have control of millions of peoples' money.
I never understood why anyone with a good job, great job security and benefits would risk that for this kind of money. Besides just being morally wrong it makes no sense to do these type of things.
Every key stroke one makes is recorded. And when something is found to be amiss, it's not long until the culprit is found. It's a bit like repeatedly robbing the same bank. Eventually one will be caught and rightfully punished.
None of the stories I've read suggest the miscreants have a drug problem. Greed, yes. Stupidity, yes. Lack of a moral compass, yes.
The idea that vetting or lack of drug testing is the problem is really not informed. If you want a higher quality workforce, increase cost of living and re-institute a civil service exam and/or the outstanding scholar program. I don't think it should even be a controversial opinion that there has been a concerted effort to degrade the quality fo the workforce in order to eventually make most jobs lower grade.
Had an employee that accessed relatives medical records and claim as a trainee. Only got two weeks suspension. Should have been fired but rules didn't allow it. So frustrating.
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