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Man Gets Probation For Social Security Fraud: Son Used Mother's Retirement Benefits For 18 Years

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. -- A Branford man was sentenced Monday to three months probation and ordered to repay the Social Security Administration $183,500 for using his mother's retirement benefits for 18 years after her death.

Neil O'Brien, 69, pleaded guilty in April to embezzling the funds between March 1984 and August 2002. U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill sentenced O'Brien in federal court in Bridgeport. O'Brien admitted that after the death of his mother in February 1984, he continued using her Social Security benefits that were automatically deposited in a joint bank account he held with her, federal prosecutors said.

Authorities said the theft came to light as a result of a new initiative by the Social Security Administration to electronically monitor claims by elderly beneficiaries of Medicare coverage to identify patterns of nonfiling of claims. No claims being filed may indicate that the insured has died.
The judge gave O'Brien a lenient sentence -- less than what is called for by federal sentencing guidelines -- because O'Brien suffers from a heart condition and an aneurysm, prosecutors said.

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