Aiken County Woman Sentenced to Federal Prison for Theft of Government Funds

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

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Cynthia Delores Holland, 62, of Aiken, has been sentenced to one year and one month in federal prison for theft of government funds from the Social Security Administration.

At trial, the Government proved that Holland improperly obtained her mother’s retirement benefits from the Social Security Administration (SSA) after her mother’s death in 2013. Those benefits continued to be paid by mistake into a joint account held by Holland and her mother. Rather than notify the SSA of the error, Holland moved the money into her personal account and spent it. Her theft took place until December 2022, when the error was discovered by the SSA, and the benefits were terminated. During that near-decade long span, Holland received over $168,000.

The discrepancy was identified in 2021 by the SSA during its Death Match Project. As part of the project, the SSA requested death verifications from the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control going back to 2005, then compared those records with the list of SSA retirement beneficiaries. Holland’s mother’s name was on the list, which initiated the investigation.

United States District Judge Joseph F. Anderson, Jr. sentenced Holland to 13 months imprisonment, to be followed by a three-year term of court-ordered supervision.  There is no parole in the federal system. The Court also ordered Holland to repay to the Social Security Administration any remaining portion of the converted money not previously recouped.

This case was investigated by the Social Security Administration, Office of the Inspector General. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Winston Holliday, Scott Matthews and Kerry McTigue prosecuted the case.