Kansas Woman Sentenced to Prison for Collecting Disability Benefits While Working

KANSAS CITY, KAN. – A woman from Leavenworth, Kan., has been sentenced to a year and a day in prison for fraudulently collecting disability benefits while working in federal and state jobs, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said today. She also was ordered to pay $76,875 in restitution.

Tya Dejuan Tiller, 38, Leavenworth, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of Social Security fraud and one count of theft of public funds.

In her plea, Tiller admitted that beginning in September 2003 she applied for and received Social Security Disability Insurance Benefits claiming a disabling condition. She continued to receive benefits while working in 2005, 2006 and 2007 for the Veterans Administration as a contract representative for VA beneficiaries, and in 2007, 2008 and 2009 as a human services specialist for the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services. She did not report to the Social Security Administration that she was working, which she was required to do under the rules of the program.

Tiller also admitted that while working as a caseworker for the Kansas Dept. of Social and Rehabilitation Services, she put false information in the records of at least four individuals who were no longer eligible for food stamp benefits in order to convert to her own use $11,234.

Grissom commended the Social Security Administration’s Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of Inspector General, the Kansas Dept. of Social and Rehabilitation Services’s Legal Division, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tris Hunt and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Trey Alford for their work on the case.