From the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Indiana NEW ALBANY—Willie D. Watts, 42, of Clarksville, has been sentenced to eighteen months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to theft of federal benefits from the Section 8 Housing Voucher, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance, and Social Security programs. According to court…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE $23 billion remains unrecovered Through several audits, Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General made dozens of recommendations for the Agency to prevent improper payments before they occur as well as to detect and correct existing improper payments. However, to date, many of those recommendations remain unimplemented, leading to continued improper…

From the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Alabama MOBILE, AL – A Mobile woman who lied about her living situation was sentenced today five years of probation for unlawfully receiving Social Security benefits for many years, a felony offense. According to court documents, Cheryl Bradley, 64, accompanied her husband to the Social Security office…

From the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Missouri ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk on Wednesday sentenced a contractor from Jefferson County, Missouri to five years of probation, 90 days of house arrest and 80 hours of community service for his role in the financial exploitation of an elderly St. Louis…

From the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of New York ROCHESTER, N.Y.-U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced today that Wendy Stone, 63, of Rochester, NY, was arrested and charged by criminal complaint with theft of government funds, aggravated identity theft, and making a false statement to obtain social security benefits. The charges carry a maximum…

From the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Middle District of Florida Orlando, Florida –United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces that Teresa Eve Hunt (63, Orlando) has pleaded guilty to theft of government property. Hunt faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison. As part of her plea, she agreed to forfeit the proceeds of…

Less Staff, Increased Workloads, Decreased Funding Led to Unprecedented Backlog FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE As a backlog of payment actions affecting Social Security beneficiaries continues to mount, so does a rise in the Agency’s improper payments. As of February 2024, SSA’s pending actions backlog reached an all-time high of 5.2 million pending actions, resulting in $1.1…

From the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of New Jersey NEWARK, N.J. – Three residents of Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic, were extradited to the United States last week and made their initial appearance in Newark federal court yesterday on charges relating to their participation in a sprawling “grandparent scam” that defrauded elderly Americans out…

From the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Middle District of Tennessee NASHVILLE – Cathleen Caraballo, 48, of Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, was sentenced to serve 37 months in federal prison and to pay $575,855.09 in restitution earlier today, announced Henry C. Leventis, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee. Caraballo previously pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud,…

From the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of New Jersey TRENTON, N.J. – A Florida man was sentenced today to 36 months in prison for fraudulently obtaining over $2.4 million in federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) payments, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced. Mohamed A. Awad, 61, of Ocala,…