A Georgia woman who had long received Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for her apparent debilitating depression and anxiety agreed to plea guilty to Social Security fraud this week. Court filings in her case highlight how the woman had long told doctors that her mental health concerns were so crippling that she was barely able to leave her room at her house. She also told doctors that she couldn’t work. Social Security Administration (SSA) investigators discovered that she was employed at an exotic club though.
The now 31-year-old woman first started receiving SSI benefits for her combination panic and major depressive disorder back in July 2010. She was instructed to report any income that she made to the SSA at that point. She never did though.
Court records show that the woman began working at Stoker’s Adult Entertainment Club in September 2014. She even went as far as to procure an adult entertainer permit in the county in which she lived for several years after that.
The woman told her case reviewer that she was so crippled by mental illness that she hadn’t been able to hold down a job in years. She continued to report how debilitating her condition was when asked in March 2019. She said that she only left her home three times a week even though she reportedly danced at her job more often than that.
Prosecutors allege that the woman duped the federal government out of some $60,000 during the many years that she received SSI benefits. She is expected to be sentenced for her role in defrauding the government in May.
SSI is a federal program that allows disabled individuals who have an income that falls below federal poverty guidelines to qualify for benefits. Anyone who purposely conceals their medical improvement or earnings as a way to continue receiving payments may be subject to federal prosecution. An attorney can serve as your advocate to recover benefits if you indeed warrant receiving them here in Oklahoma City.