Social Security payments are personal and non-transferable. Citizens of the United States receive these payments each month through a pension and retirement system. If you are a retired person and you can get a Social Security benefit, only you can collect it. It is totally illegal for anyone else to collect your benefit, which is why this woman’s case is so striking and alarming. This woman decided that she wanted to continue collecting her sister’s benefit even though she was dead.
This unpleasant situation occurred in Mingo County and went on for several years. Diana Cisco, 69, originally from Delbarton, admitted that she collected from the Social Security Administration on behalf of her dead sister. Her advocate Thompson claimed that she knew full well that the action she was committing was illegal and therefore she was not entitled to federal benefits.
How long did she collect Social Security from her dead sister?
Diana Cisco collected her dead sister’s Social Security benefit for 4 years. She started doing this in 2016 and stopped in 2020. This means she illegally collected $46,356. As is obvious, this woman used the funds for personal purposes. In addition, she illegally cashed out an amount of money that was hers, so she was committing a crime from the very beginning.
For this crime, Cisco could face a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. He would also count on three years of supervised release and a fine. That fine would be $750,000. We will not know final sentence until next September 1, 2022.
She pretended to be her sister in order to collect her benefit
This woman pretended to be her sister all this time to collect her Social Security benefit. First she lied to the SSA special agents. She first told them that she was her sister and then claimed that “Diane Cisco would be in Columbus, Ohio, for at least a month.” In this way, the elderly woman tried to ward off suspicions about herself.
Fortunately, the agents discovered all the lies Cisco told. They did this by checking license plate records, photos of Cisco, and talking one-on-one with people who had seen her recently. After being forced into a forced situation, this woman, who illegally collected money from Social Security Administration, allegedly admitted that she lied to the agents.