PORTLAND, Maine — A Standish woman was sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court to three years of probation for Social Security fraud.
Marie Angel Broad, 43, received nearly $20,000 in benefits illegally, according to court documents.
U.S. District Judge Jon Levy ordered Broad to pay $19,978 in restitution.
Broad waived indictment and pleaded guilty to the charge in April. She has been free on $2,500 unsecured bail since then.
By pleading guilty, Broad, who began receiving Social Security benefits in January 2002, admitted she did not report that she was married in November 2010 in Gardner, Massachusetts.
She and her husband moved to a cabin in Standish in April 2011, according to the prosecution version of events to which she pleaded guilty. The following month, she stated on a Redetermination for Continued Eligibility form that she had lived alone at various addresses in Maine since 2007. Broad described her husband as a “non-relative” who lived with her.
In February 2013, Broad completed Social Security marital questionnaires for herself and her husband, according to the prosecution version of events. On his form, Broad stated that he “had lost his memory due to a car accident, that [he] referred to Broad as his ‘girlfriend,’ ‘fiancee,’ ‘old lady’ and ‘wife.’”
A month later, Broad admitted to investigators that she “hid the marriage because she did not want to lose her SSI benefits and she feared that [her husband] would leave her if she did,” the court document said.
Broad faced up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.