TEXARKANA, Texas - A Red River County, Texas, man who received disability benefits while falsely claiming income from truck driving was earned by his wife has pleaded guilty to theft in a Texarkana federal court.
Thomas Joe Green is charged in an information with pocketing $58,000 in disability payments between January 2015 to October 2017. Green pleaded guilty Jan. 13 to theft of government property at a hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Caroline Craven in the Texarkana Division of the Eastern District of Texas.
According to a factual basis filed in the case, Green began receiving Social Security disability benefits in 2009.
"In 2017, in order to keep receiving SSA disability benefits, my wife and I filed amended income tax returns for the years 2015 and 2016 to falsely indicate that she was employed as a truck driver in order for her to claim my income as her own," the factual basis states. "My wife does not possess a commercial driver s license."
Craven released Green at the end of his plea hearing on a $5,000 unsecured appearance bond. Green faces up to 10 years in federal prison, a fine up to $250,000, or both.
Sentencing will be scheduled once the court has received a presentence report with a recommendation for sentencing under federal guidelines. Green is represented by Fairfield, Texas, lawyer Chad Morgan.