Rebecca Fields, 70, pleaded guilty to making false statements to illegally receive Social Security benefits.
KOKOMO, Ind. — A Kokomo woman has been ordered to pay over $200,000 in stolen retirement benefits from her dead husband's account.
Rebecca Fields, 70, was also sentenced to three years of probation after pleading guilty to making false statements to illegally receive Social Security benefits.
According to court documents, Fields' husband, "L.F.," started receiving Social Security retirement benefits around July 1985. Fields requested to be added as L.F.'s representative payee, which the Social Security Administration (SSA) approved, the DOJ said.
"When a qualified retirement beneficiary lacks the capacity to manage his or her own benefits, the SSA may approve a 'representative payee' to receive the beneficiary’s benefits and to use them for the beneficiary," the DOJ said in a statement. "In such an instance, the SSA requires the representative payee to annually certify a continuing relationship with the beneficiary and how the representative used the beneficiary’s program benefits on his or her behalf."
L.F. died on April 10, 2006, and Fields didn't report it to the SSA. The DOJ said she completed at least 13 Representative Payee Reports between 2007-2022. On these reports, Fields said L.F. was still living with her.
"These reports also contained false claims that she had spent his retirement benefits on his behalf to maintain his health and well-being," the DOJ...
Member of the group DJ DOC, Lee Ha-neul has announced a counter-suit against singer Jubi Train and the representative of his agency BASS Camp Studio. On the 21st, BASS Camp Studio issued an offici...