Disability News

Springfield Woman Sentenced For Social Security Fraud, Reports U.S. Attorney 

BOSTON, June 22 /PRNewswire/ -- A Springfield woman was sentenced yesterday in federal court for social security fraud. United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan and Leo J. Sullivan, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Social Security Administration's Office of the Inspector General, Office of Investigation in New England, announced that GLORIA RANKIN, age 47, of 344 St. James Avenue, Springfield, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Michael A. Ponsor to 1 year and 9 months' imprisonment, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release. RANKIN was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $25,000.

RANKIN pleaded guilty on September 21, 2005 to a three count Indictment charging her with one count of False Statements, one count of Social Security fraud, and one count of Social Security representative fraud. At the earlier plea hearing, the prosecutor told the Court that, had the case proceeded to trial, the Government's evidence would have proven that RANKIN fraudulently received Social Security Benefit payments intended for her four children after the children had been removed from her custody by the Department of Social Services.

From 1994 through 2003, RANKIN fraudulently received and misused approximately $25,000 in Social Security payments intended for her children. RANKIN lied to the Social Security Administration in July of 2002 in an attempt to conceal this fraud. The case was investigated by the U.S. Social Security Administration's Office of the Inspector General, Office of Investigation in New England. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Hart Smyth in Sullivan's Springfield Office.

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	Did You Know?
	SSDI stands for Social Security Disability Insurance A system of federally provided payments to eligible workers (and, in some cases, their families) when they are unable to continue working because of a disability. Benefits begin with the sixth full month of disability and continue until the individual is capable of substantial gainful activity.