Crime & Safety
Cobb Woman Pleads Guilty to Theft of Government Funds
Marietta resident illegally cashed nearly $200,000 in Social Security checks issued to her deceased mother-in-law, who passed away in 1994.
Jennifer Wynn or Marietta has pleaded guilty to charges that she stole nearly $200,000 from the federal government by illegally receiving and spending her mother-in-law's Social Security benefits for nearly 20 years after her mother-in-law's death.
According to United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates, the charges and other information presented in court: Wynn's mother-in-law died in 1994. The defendant kept the deceased woman's bank account open, and the benefits, which were intended solely for her mother-in-law, were deposited into the account.
Wynn used the money for her own personal expenses. Wynn attempted to conceal her mother-in-law’s death by writing checks to herself each month, and forging her mother-in-law's signature. In total, she received $195,304 in government benefits to which she was not entitled.
Sentencing for Wynn, 50, is scheduled for August 13, 2014, at 2:00 p.m. before United States District Judge Orinda D. Evans.
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“The amount of money Wynn stole and her persistence in stealing for nearly 20 years shows her shameful disregard of the law,” said Yates in a statement. “Those who steal from federal entitlement programs are on notice that they will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. This type of crime harms not only the federal government, but the proper beneficiaries of these programs.”
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