South Carolina Woman Sentenced in Social Security Fraud Scheme

From the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of South Carolina:

Columbia, South Carolina – Crystal Deveaux, 61, of Eastover, was sentenced to more than a year in federal prison after pleading guilty to theft of Government funds totaling of over $258,000.00.

Evidence presented to the Court showed Deveaux unlawfully obtained Social Security Retirement Insurance Benefits (RIB) on behalf of her deceased grandmother, which she used for her own personal benefit from June 2001 through December 2020. While acting as a representative for her deceased grandmother, Deveaux failed to notify the Social Security Administration of the death and continued to cash and deposit the RIB checks she received on her grandmother’s behalf. Additionally, Deveaux caused the Social Security Administration to pay an additional $22,840.10 in Medicare premiums on behalf of the deceased grandmother. Further, Deveaux was a Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipient herself and was wrongly paid $22,875.00 as she had unreported income; and she failed to report her husband’s Veteran’s Administration (VA) benefits, causing her to be paid another $23,751.42 by the Social Security Administration.

United States District Judge Sherri A. Lydon sentenced Deveaux to 15 months imprisonment, to be followed by a three-year term of court-ordered supervision. There is no parole in the federal system. Deveaux was ordered to pay restitution to the Social Security Administration.

The case was investigated by the Social Security Administration-Office of Inspector General, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney T. DeWayne Pearson.