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Graeme Griffith Pleads Guilty to Stealing Over $149,000 in Government Benefits
BOSTON – Graeme Griffith, 60, of Andover, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty to stealing over $149,000 in government benefits.
Griffith pleaded guilty to theft of public money in U.S. District Court. U.S. District Court Senior Judge Mark L. Wolf scheduled sentencing for April 16, 2015.
According to the indictment, in 2003, Griffith’s father died, but his monthly Social Security benefits continued to be directly deposited into a joint bank account in his and Griffith’s names. From 2003 to 2014, Griffith continued to receive his deceased father’s benefits totaling $149,285.
This case was brought as part of an ongoing effort by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in partnership with the Social Security Administration to investigate and prosecute the posthumous fraud of Social Security benefits.
Since October 2013, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has prosecuted several such cases involving a total of more than $1 million in stolen government money.
Griffith’s case is one of several high-profile cases of Social Security benefits fraud in Massachusetts.
Other notable cases include:
- Charles Gerbutavich, of Manchester, pleaded guilty to taking his deceased father’s Social Security benefits totaling $161,587, which were directly deposited into a joint bank account after the father’s death in 1993.
- Mary Murphy, of Dorchester, was sentenced to 18 months of home confinement, 10 hours per week of community service, and was ordered to pay a fine of $40,000 and $331,630 in restitution.
- Richard Oldham, of Old Orchard Beach, Maine, was sentenced to four months in prison, six months of home confinement, and was ordered to pay $195,862 in restitution.
- Frances Kenney Moseley, of Boston, pleaded guilty to stealing over $220,000 in Social Security benefits, which were directly deposited into her father’s bank account after his death in 2003.
- George Bergstrom, of Shrewsbury, was sentenced to one year of probation and was ordered to pay $57,948 in restitution.
- John Flaherty, of Newburyport, was sentenced to 10 months in prison and was ordered to pay $168,830 in restitution.
The case is being prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Landry of Ortiz’s Major Crimes Unit.
Key Facts
- State: Massachusetts
- Category: White Collar Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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