BATON ROUGE, LA - United States Attorney Walt Green announced the conviction of RUBY C. DUNN, age 63, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who pled guilty today before U.S. District Judge Shelly D. Dick to theft of government property, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 641, and admitted to forfeiture allegations contained in the Bill of Information.
According to the factual basis presented to the Court in connection with her plea, DUNN began receiving Social Security Administration (SSA) Survivor’s Benefits in or around 1993. However, in 1999, DUNN re-married and became ineligible for such benefits. In order to continue receiving these benefits, DUNN failed to report her marital status and knowingly made misrepresentations to the SSA, on numerous occasions, intending to conceal her marital status. On one occasion, for instance, when asked about her husband, DUNN falsely represented that he was only a “cousin" who happened to live at the same address. On another occasion, DUNN admitted that she had obtained a marriage license but claimed that she and her husband had not gone through with the marriage. As DUNN admitted in Court today, her scheme continued over a fourteen-year period, during which time she fraudulently obtained more than $80,000 in SSA benefits.
U.S. Attorney Green stated: “This kind of criminal conduct is an affront to all those who dutifully pay into the Social Security system and only receive benefits when it is legal and appropriate for them to receive such benefits. We appreciate the SSA-OIG’s efforts to identify this type of fraudulent conduct and bring it to this Office’s attention so that we may take action."
This investigation is being conducted by the Social Security Administration’s Office of Inspector General. The matter is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jessica M.P. Thornhill.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
