ABINGDON, VIRGINIA - United States Attorney Timothy J. Heaphy announced today that Phillip Reece, 47, of Dryden, Va., was sentenced to six months imprisonment in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Abingdon. Phillip Reece previously pled guilty to one count of converting the social security benefits payments of another to his own use.
According to evidence presented at the sentencing and guilty plea hearings by Assistant United States Attorney Zachary T. Lee, between 1999 and 2011, Phillip Reece was the third party payee for his three children’s Social Security Survivor Benefits and was required to use those benefit payments for the care and support of his three children. An investigation by the Social Security Administration’s Department of Inspector General discovered that Phillip Reece falsified multiple Social Security Administration documents claiming his three children resided with him during this timeframe, when in actuality they resided with their grandparents. Additionally, Phillip Reece did not use any of the Social Security Benefits for the support and care of his three children and unlawfully used $91,336 of his children’s Social Security Survivor Benefits for his own personal expenses.
The investigation of this case was conducted by Social Security Administration’s Department of Inspector General. Assistant United States Attorney Zachary T. Lee is prosecuting the case for the United States.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
