Woman Sentenced to Jail for Committing Social Security Fraud

A federal judge sentenced an Amarillo woman Wednesday to nearly two years in prison and ordered her to pay more than $90,000 in restitution for Social Security fraud.

Katherine Faye Washington, 56, continued to receive Social Security Widow’s Benefits while concealing that she had remarried after her first husband’s death, the plea agreement said.

U.S. District Judge Mary Lou Robinson sentenced Washington to 21 months in prison and ordered her to pay $90,482.60 in restitution, court records show.

In 1995, when her husband died, Washington began receiving benefit payments because she cared for a child. She continued to receive payments through 2004, when her application for widow’s benefits was approved, records show.

But she did not disclose she had entered a common-law relationship with another man in 1998, the plea agreement said. When her second husband died in November 2010, she applied for widow’s benefits under his name.

“When the defendant remarried in 1998, the amount of benefits she received should have been reduced based upon the income of (her common-law husband),” the agreement said.

Source: http://amarillo.com/news/local-news/2012-01-25/woman-gets-prison-time-fr...