Critter Control Did Their Job

     On May 8 Social Security plans to reopen that Cleveland field office which had recently closed due to raccoons in the attic. I guess they're gone or nearly gone.

Social Security Fraud Leads To Lengthy Jail Terms

     From a press release:

Two Raleigh, North Carolina men, Joseph Kingsley Irona and Mamady Fadima Conde, were sentenced for conspiracy to commit money laundering. Both men previously pled guilty to the charge. Irona was sentenced to 84 months’ imprisonment and three years of supervised release. Conde was sentenced to 60 months’ imprisonment and five years of supervised release. ...

According to court documents and other information presented in court, Irona and Conde were involved in a highly complex network of bank accounts at multiple financial institutions. This network was used for laundering over $1 million criminal proceeds derived from various fraud schemes, particularly identity theft. One particularly intricate scheme involved the misuse of stolen victim identifiers to submit online applications for Social Security retirement benefits in victims’ names. After the applications were approved, the resulting payments were unlawfully deposited into accounts within the money laundering network, including accounts held by Irona and Conde. After receiving criminal proceeds, Irona and Conde took elaborate steps to dissipate the funds and obscure their source and destination. ...

Tiny Feet Scurrying Around Over Your Head

     From a Cleveland television station:

The Social Security office in Middleburg Heights, on Pearl Rd., is temporarily closed due to a raccoon infestation.

People trying to take care of business Wednesday at the office found locked doors and signs stating the closure. ...

Michael Murphy, President of Local 3448 of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), said problems with raccoons inside the office have been building.

“These employees were reporting concerns of noises above the ceiling as far back as January,” Murphy said. “The staff said five raccoons were removed from the building as of yesterday.” ...

    I've had racoons in my attic. Getting rid of them is expensive. Keeping them from coming back may be even more expensive.

How Much Do VEs and MEs Make?

     This is from a Freedom of Information Act response that Social Security posted recently.

You Get What You Pay For

     Social Security has decided to post a Freedom of Information Act response they've given showing the rates at which the Alabama Disability Determination Section (DDS) paid for medical examinations and some other things they ordered. This is from 2020 so it's a bit out of date but take a look. I'm only posting the first page here. The whole thing which runs to 20 pages is linked above. The last page may surprise you a bit.

    Don't these rates seem a little low -- or maybe a lot low?

Click on image to view full size

Results Of An SSI Outreach Project

 

    From The Hill:

... SSA mailed outreach letters to individuals informing them of potential eligibility for Supplemental Security Income (SSI), a program that provides modest cash benefits and access to Medicaid for low-income disabled and elderly individuals. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) forcefully pushed for the outreach during a Senate Finance hearing in 2021.   

Wyden’s push and SSA’s actions did much to help impoverished disabled and elderly citizens, with SSA indicating the outreach will increase lifetime SSI payments to these individuals by about $530 million. 

The cost of the outreach totaled $32 million, implying the ratio of benefits received by the public to the cost of the outreach is 17 to 1. Mailing informational letters, part of SSA’s Equity and Outreach initiatives, proved to be a highly efficient mechanism to help individuals in poverty.  ...

SSA’s outreach was targeted to Social Security beneficiaries who had very low Social Security benefit amounts and, therefore, might qualify for some SSI benefits. ...

    Here's a link to Social Security's report on this project.

Not Good News For Those Who Love Telework

 

    From WISH-TV:

A former Social Security Administration employee has been charged with one count of wire fraud after officials say he defrauded the organization for over three years. …

According to court documents, Christopher Markham, 40, had been employed by the administration and assigned to an office in Anderson. 

Between February 2019, and June 2022, documents say Markham “made it appear” he was teleworking his full-time job for the SSA during regular workdays. But instead, he was working as a home inspector for his own company, Markham Inspection Services. 

Markham continued to collect his full federal salary and benefits from the SSA at the time, attorneys said.

The release says Markham “routinely” performed home inspections, making it appear as though he was teleworking while working for the SSA, while hiding that he was not performing administrative work by allowing his wife and mother access to his Social Security Administration computer to send emails. …

Creamy Or Crunchy?

     From Nextgov/FCW:

...The longer arc of this agency is a phenomenally dedicated, committed, compassionate culture. [SSA staff has] been traumatized by the increased volume and nine years of steady staff reductions, given the lack of any Congressional attention to our budget or even the decency of our own appropriations hearings, said [Social Security Commissioner Martin] O'Malley” ...

The SSI program “purports to be a program of last resort,” but “forces the poorest of people to jump through hoops, stand on their head and gargle peanut butter in order to qualify for it,” he told lawmakers at a recent hearing. ...