Dannelly Labogin, Social Security Benefit Defraudment, New Mexico 2015

A 68-year-old Texas man pleaded guilty to a scheme to defraud the Social Security Administration in New Mexico, with a payout of $82,483.

Dannelly Labogin, of Amarillo, Texas, pleaded guilty in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M. to defrauding the Social Security Administration (SSA) of Social Security Child’s Insurance Benefits.

Labogin was charged in a two-count indictment on September 22, 2015. Count 1 of the indictment alleged that between June 2007 and November 2013, Labogin executed a scheme to defraud the SSA by continuing to receive benefits on his daughter’s behalf even though the child had been adopted by others and was no longer in his care.

According to the indictment, Labogin fraudulently received an aggregate of $82,483.00 as a result of this scheme. Counts 2 through 36 of the indictment alleged that Labogin knowingly stole and embezzled an aggregate of $26,633.00 in Social Security Child’s Insurance Benefit payments from the SSA between October 1, 2010 and December 3, 2013.

Labogin was arrested in Amarillo on December 4, 2015, and was transferred to the District of New Mexico on January 5, 2016, to face the charges against him.

During today’s plea hearing, Labogin pled guilty to Count 1 of the indictment. In entering the guilty plea, Labogin admitted that from June 2007 through November 2013, he received Child’s Insurance Benefits from the SSA on behalf of his biological daughter even though he did not have custody of his biological daughter at the time he applied for and received the benefits.

Labogin faces a statutory maximum penalty of five years in prison. The sentencing hearing has yet to be scheduled. In addition to prison time, Labogin will be required to pay $82,483.00 in restitution to the SSA.

This case was investigated by the SSA, Office of the Inspector General, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark A. Saltman of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office.

Dannelly Labogin, 68, of Amarillo, Texas, is set to face a maximum sentence of five years in prison for his role in the scheme to defraud the Social Security Administration. He has been scheduled to pay $82,483.00 in restitution to the SSA.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-nm/pr/texas-man-pleads-guilty-new-mexico-scheme-defraud-social-security-administration