Oklahoma Woman Gets Prison Term for Social Security Benefits Fraud

A 28-year-old woman was sentenced to 11 months in prison on Dec. 28 for illegally diverting Social Security benefits while she worked for an organization that cares for people with developmental disabilities.

Teri M. Mozingo was also ordered by U.S. District Judge Gregory Frizzell to pay $58,889.33 in restitution still owed to Bios Corp. and to be under court supervision for three years after her release from prison.

Mozingo pleaded guilty June 7. She admitted that while she was employed by Bios, she took 15 claimants' Social Security and Supplemental Security Income payments from Dec. 4, 2008, until the fall of 2010.

She stated in her plea agreement that while she was working as an accounting clerk at Bios, she was asked to switch the claimants' accounts from paper checks to direct deposit into Bios trust accounts.

Mozingo admitted that she entered her account information where she should have entered Bios account information.

In an attempt to avoid detection, she deposited some of the funds from one of her accounts into the Bios trust accounts and then made fraudulent accounting entries into the Bios ledger.

In a court filing this week, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Souders described what Mozingo did as a "complex scheme."

Defense attorney Stan Monroe wrote in a pleading this month that Bios fired Mozingo in September 2010.

Frizzell determined that Mozingo caused a loss of more than $69,000, although she repaid some of the money soon after she was confronted.

Mozingo, who is free on bond, must report to prison by Feb. 9.

Article from the Tulsa World.