Employee and employer plead guilty to Social Security Disability fraud

This week a 61-year-old Philipsburg, Montana, man has pleaded guilty to Social Security Disability fraud, reports The Republic.

Not only has the Philipsburg man pleaded guilty, but also his former Hamilton, Montana, employer has acknowledged helping him defraud the Social Security Administration (SSA) disability program.

Monday in federal court in Missoula, Montana, the man pleaded guilty to the charge of Social Security Disability fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He defrauded the Social Security Disability program by being paid mostly in cash by a Hamilton, Montana, butcher shop where he worked.

While receiving cash, the man reported only a fraction of his earnings to the government in order to keep his Social Security disability benefit payments. According to court records, he received Social Security disability benefits from 1995 until 2009 for a degenerative disc disease that he had said prevented him from working full time.

The Social Security Administration found out that the man was working far more than the two hours a day that he had reported.

On Tuesday of this week, the man’s Hamilton, Montana, employer pleaded guilty to “aiding and abetting the theft of Social Security disability benefits” by initially lying to the investigators about the man’s work hours.

Both men will be sentenced on March 8, 2013.

If you or someone you know needs help with disability benefits, contact a Social Security lawyer at Fleschner, Stark, Tanoos & Newlin.