Patty Buchanan Sentenced for $239K Social Security Fraud

Seattle’s Patty Buchanan has been locked up for over a decade of deceit, as she was sentenced today to 18 months in prison for defrauding the Social Security Administration out of $239,083. The 57-year-old woman collected her deceased father’s benefits for more than 19 years after his death, using fraudulent means to maintain the illusion of her father’s continued life.

U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan announced the sentence in U.S. District Court in Seattle, emphasizing the gravity of such fraud on the vulnerable populations that rely on Social Security benefits for survival. Buchanan was prosecuted as part of a joint initiative with the SSA Office of Inspector General to combat benefit fraud.

The defendant’s scheme involved forging a power of attorney and submitting false documentation to the SSA. She even had someone impersonate her father over the phone to continue receiving his benefits following his death in 1993. Chief U.S. District Judge Marsha J. Pechman ordered Buchanan to pay $239,083 in restitution.

Buchanan’s case is one of the largest Social Security benefit frauds prosecuted in the Western District of Washington. Her father died in May 1993, but she continued to cash his checks, totaling 235 over the years. The scheme unraveled when a teller at a check-cashing business grew suspicious and an anonymous tip eventually led to Buchanan’s downfall.

In addition to Buchanan, five other defendants have been charged with similar thefts of government funds this year. All have pleaded guilty and await sentencing.

Claudia Ruth Greenamyer, 72, fraudulently collected $219,960 after her parents’ deaths in 1996 and 2000. Dennis Jay Gorin, 76, fraudulently collected about $100,000 of his mother’s benefits after her death around 2003. David Michael Costa, 77, defrauded the SSA out of $297,948 following his mother’s death in 1989.

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