Wisconsin Woman Sentenced for Spending $34,000 of Mother's Social Security Benefits

MADISON, Wis. (WSAU) – An Arpin woman will spend two years on probation for spending her mother's Social Security money on herself.

“I know you think it's justified, but it wasn't,” U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb told 70-year-old Rose Svoboda at her sentencing. Crabb also ordered Svoboda to pay nearly $34,000 in restitution by making monthly payments of $500.

Prosecutors say Svoboda got the Social Security money on behalf of her mother, who was in a nursing home and suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Svoboda spent the money on gambling, to pay her property taxes and to buy things even though the feds told she could not.

Svoboda refused to return the money, claiming that she cared for her mother for years and that her mother would have wanted her to have the money.

“It's important that people know that there are consequences of the misuse of these funds,” Crabb said.

From: http://wsau.com/news/articles/2012/may/30/probation-ordered-in-social-security-theft/