Md. Man Pleads Guilty to Getting Dead Sister-In-Law's Pension, Marrying Elderly Woman Twice in Fraud Scheme
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A Maryland man has pleaded guilty to wire fraud after stealing more than $100,000 in Social Security benefits and fraudulently receiving nearly $600,000 in pension benefits over the course of 15 years.
According to his guilty plea, 58-year-old Calelah John Lattisaw of New Carrollton began receiving Supplemental Security Income through the Social Security Administration for a disability in February 1993.
In 1997, Lattisaw was living with his sister-in-law. When she died on November 23 of that year, she was receiving Social Security survivor benefits, as well as a D.C. pension, administered via direct deposit by the U.S. Treasury.
Prior to her death, Lattisaw was added as a co-signor to her bank account under the name John. H. Lattisaw, using the Social Security number of another individual. The Social Security Administration and the U.S. Treasury were not advised of the woman's death, and Lattisaw withdrew virtually all of the Social Security and pension benefits from her account via ATM withdrawals and debit purchases. Lattisaw did not advise the Social Security Administration of this additional income.
In 2003, while still receiving his dead sister-in-law's benefits and his own, Lattisaw married an elderly woman. Shortly thereafter he attempted to sell her home, but her family blocked the sale and had the marriage annulled.
In 2006, he moved the woman out of her nursing facility and into the home he shared with his girlfriend. He remarried her, became power of attorney over one of her bank accounts and the co-signor on another bank account, again using his alias, John H. Lattisaw, and a fake Social Security Number.
His wife died on June 11, 2006 at his home. Five days later, Lattisaw liquidated a certificate of deposit at one of her accounts and withdrew $161,000. He subsequently deposited those funds into a new account opened in the name of his alias, using the same fake Social Security Number.
Still, Lattisaw failed to report the change in his living conditions and additional income to the Social Security Administration.
Had the Social Security Administration been aware of Lattisaw's income, resources, or living arrangements, he would not have qualified for benefits. Between 2000 and 2015, Lattisaw received $110,107 in benefits that he was not entitled to, according to the Department of Justice.
He also fraudulently received over $593,000 in U.S. Treasury pension benefits.
If the court accepts Lattisaw's plea agreement, he will be sentenced to three years in prison followed by three years of supervised release.
U.S. District Judge Ellen L. Hollander has scheduled sentencing for August 24 at 2:30 p.m.
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