Hope man pleads guilty in Social Security fraud

A Hope, Ark., man who pocketed more than $56,000 in Social Security benefits after the rightful beneficiary died pleaded guilty last week to stealing from the U.S. government.

Eric Alfonso Mays Sr. appeared with Texarkana lawyer John Pickett for a plea hearing before U.S. District Judge Susan Hickey in Texarkana's downtown federal building Thursday morning. Assistant U.S. Attorney David Ferguson said Mays admits he used Social Security retirement funds automatically deposited into a bank account he jointly accessed with his aunt to pay his mortgage for several years following the aunt's death in July 2011.

Ferguson told Hickey that when the Social Security Administration received notice in September 2014 that Mays' aunt, Juanita Hart, hadn't used her Medicare benefits in three years, they sent her a letter setting an appointment at the agency's local office. Mays contacted Social Security and told them his aunt was living in a nursing home in Hope, Ark. When Social Security staff determined Hart was not a resident of the facility Mays named, he gave them the name of a different nursing home, Ferguson said.

Social Security investigators determined the aunt wasn't living at the second nursing home either, and their efforts to contact Mays after that point were unsuccessful. In March 2015, officials with the Office of the Inspector General interviewed Mays at his home and he confessed to the fraud.

Mays owes the government $56,337 for the Social Security payments he wrongfully received. Hickey told Mays a date for him to return to court for formal sentencing will be scheduled once the court has received a presentence investigation report, which will include a recommendation for punishment under federal guidelines.

Mays faces up to 10 years in federal prison, a fine up to $250,000 or both at sentencing. Hickey allowed Mays to remain free on the $5,000 unsecured appearance bond he was released on following his arraignment last fall.

 

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