From a press release:
On March 6, 2024, a federal grand jury in the District of Puerto Rico returned a 17-count indictment charging Myrna Faria, a.k.a. Myrna Oliveras-Santiago, with theft of government funds ...
According to court documents, Faria was employed by the Social Security Administration (SSA) from approximately 1991 through 2019 as a “Social Insurance Specialist” and “Claims Specialist” working in the Workload Support Unit in San Juan, Puerto Rico. From March 2012 through March 2024, Faria embezzled and stole SSA funds, namely Retirement Insurance Benefits, Survivors Insurance Benefits and Auxiliary Benefit payments, to which she knew she was not entitled. In total, Faria stole approximately $1,812,455.10. ...
Faria utilized her position within SSA to submit false claims on behalf of others, using the identity of individuals she believed to be deceased. She then approved those false claims and submitted her own bank and address information to fraudulently receive the corresponding SSA beneficiary proceeds. Faria proceeded to withdraw, transfer, and spend the money from the accounts that fraudulently obtained the SSA funds. Over the span of twelve years, Faria submitted and approved 13 fraudulent claims. A total of 10 fraudulent claims were still active and receiving funds as of the date of the Indictment. ...
4 comments:
Why did it take so long to catch this thief. Where are the safeguards at SSA?
Probably one of several the Puerto Rico WSU. There once was a time many individuals whispered about fraud in the WSUs, especially Puerto Rico.
I would not be shocked if there were heightened focus on the WSUs now.
My original thought was she spread out the fraudulent claims over a long period so was more difficult to catch. But the dollar amounts lead me to think that she was paid for most of the claims for a long period. She filed 13 claims but only 10 were still active when she was caught. I'd guess some were perhaps kids survivor claims that aged out at 18.
She retired in 2019 so it's good to see that fraud is pursued even after employees leave the agency.
It seems like most employees who do this are in their 30s or maybe 40s, ruining a career in a decent job. She didn't ruin her career but hopefully her retirement will be behind bars for a substantial amount of time.
@11:31am,
She will hopefully spend time behind bars. And, hopefully, the government will also move to forfeit her retirement pension and garnish all of her refunded retirement contributions against court ordered restitution. Being convicted of a felony related to an employee's governmental service is one of the few ways a federal pension can be forfeited for a federal retiree.
So, when she eventually gets out of the pen, hopefully she'll be spending the rest of her life working at a Puerto Rico version of McDonalds.
Unfortunately, employee fraud is very high in Puerto Rico among all government agencies. It is much more akin to living and working in a 3rd world country than in a State.
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