Essex County Man Sentenced to 46 Months in Prison for Stealing Federal Benefits Meant for Missing Girlfriend’s Disabled Son and Violating Supervised Release

U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of New Jersey

NEWARK, N.J. – An Essex County, New Jersey, man was sentenced to 38 months in prison for stealing federal benefits meant for the disabled child of his former girlfriend shortly after she went missing, and for an additional 8 months in prison for violating supervised release, U.S. Attorney Alina Habba announced.

Asmar Earp, 37, of Newark, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Evelyn Padin in Newark federal court to three counts of an Indictment charging him with two counts of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Earp was in a romantic relationship and shared a house in Newark, New Jersey with V.W.  Through a program administered by Social Security Administration, V.W. received monthly payments on behalf of Victim-1, her disabled minor son, who was not capable of managing these benefits on his own.  On December 24, 2017, V.W. went missing and her whereabouts remain unknown. Six days after V.W.’s disappearance, Earp fraudulently gained control of Victim-1’s benefits by changing the PIN code on the debit card used to access those funds.  In March and April 2018, Earp also fraudulently used V.W.’s name, date of birth, and social security number to receive a replacement debit card to continue accessing and using Victim-1’s benefits.  Overall, from December 2017 through February 2020, Earp and others acting at his direction repeatedly and fraudulently took the money intended to help Victim-1 and used it on themselves.

U.S. Attorney Habba credited special agents of the Social Security Administration, Office of the Inspector General, Boston New York Field Division, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Amy Connelly, and the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, under the leadership of Acting Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens II, with the investigation that led to the sentencing in this case.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel H. Rosenblum of the Narcotics/OCDETF Unit in Newark.