Kenton County woman pleads guilty to collecting $100K of dead father’s social security

Covington, KY–A Kenton County woman pled guilty in federal court today on charges she falsely collected $109,830.40 over five years in social security benefits she was not entitled to. Angela Marie Anciso-Sullivan admitted to the following in the plea agreement:

1. On January 12, 2015, L.B., the Defendant’s father, passed away. Prior to that date, L.B. was a valid recipient of Title II Social Security retirement benefits. [A payee’s death ends his right to such benefits, which are money and property of the United States and the SSA, a department or agency thereof.]
2. After her father’s death, the Defendant did not notify the SSA of L.B.’ s death and continued to obtain and use his SSA benefits, which were deposited into a bank account the Defendant had access to and control of.
3. The Defendant mainly used the SSA benefits for personal spending, including numerous point-of-sale transactions and cash withdrawals.
4. The Defendant, thus, fraudulently received L.B.’s SSA benefits, in an amount exceeding $1,000, from on or about January 12, 2015, through in or about June 2020.
5. The Defendant knowingly embezzled, stole, purloined, or converted to her own use or the use of another such benefits, to which she was not entitled. The total loss to the SSA as a result of the Defendant’s crime is $109,830.40.

Sullivan also agreed to pay the government back $102,101. She was released on bond pending her sentencing hearing on February 22, 2023.

The statutory punishment is imprisonment for not more than 10 years, a fine of not more than $250,000, and a term of supervised release of not more than 3 years.