Williamsburg Woman Sentenced for Social Security Fraud

From the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Kentucky:

LONDON, Ky. – A Williamsburg, Ky., woman, Jennifer Lee West, 60, was sentenced Tuesday to 4 months in federal prison, by U.S. District Judge Robert Wier, for committing Social Security fraud.

According to court documents, in December 2005, West requested to be the representative payee for a “Lorene Bryant,” who was receiving SSI benefits through the Social Security Administration. However, that person did not exist; this was actually a false alternative identity of the defendant’s mother. The defendant, with knowledge that this was not a real person, was fraudulently approved as the representative payee and falsely represented herself to be the child of the false identity. From 2006 through 2020, the Defendant perpetuated the fraud, by annually completing false Representative Payee Reports. The total loss of taxpayer funds from the fraud was $117,615.

West was also ordered to pay $117,615 in restitution.

Following her release from prison, West will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for two years. Her supervised release conditions also include two months of home detention and 40 hours of community service per year.

Carlton S. Shier IV, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and Marvin D. Mauldin, Resident Agent-in-Charge, SSA Office of the Inspector General, jointly announced the sentence.

The investigation was conducted by SSA-OIG. The United States was represented by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney James Chapman.