BANGOR, Maine — A Franklin woman was ordered Monday to repay more than $31,000 and to serve two years of probation at her sentencing in U.S. District Court for stealing her dead mother’s Social Security benefits.
Barbara Phillips, 66, also was ordered to pay a $3,000 fine for the theft of public money, according to a prepared statement from the U.S Attorney’s Office.
According to documents filed in federal court in Bangor, for more than two years Phillips stole the money out of her dead mother’s checking account, from August 2011 until December 2013. After Phillips’ mother died in late May 2010, the Social Security Administration continued depositing $980 each month into her mother’s checking account, documents indicate.
Judge John Woodcock on Monday ordered Phillips to repay $31,496.37 to the Social Security Administration.
The investigation was conducted by the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office statement.
