LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Janice M. Arnow, 69, of Louisville, admitted in federal court this week to stealing $268,396 from the Social Security Administration by failing to report her husband’s death for eleven years. Arnow pleaded guilty before Chief Judge Joseph H. McKinley Jr. to multiple counts of fraud, theft of government property, and making false statements to the SSA.
Between October 2003 and October 2014, Arnow continued to collect Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI) benefits meant for her deceased husband, Paul Adams. She admitted in court to knowingly cashing and spending payments she wasn’t entitled to, effectively embezzling funds from a U.S. government agency. The total fraud amounted to $268,396, a sum she funneled through personal accounts and spending over more than a decade.
In a separate act of deception, Arnow submitted a false Social Security application on or about July 17, 2012. She intentionally omitted her late husband’s identity, the fact she was still receiving his benefits, and the date of his death. She also falsely claimed she had only been married to one man, M.H., erasing her marriage to Adams entirely. The falsified application was part of her effort to claim additional benefits under false pretenses.
When confronted by agents from the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General at her Louisville home, Arnow offered shifting explanations. She claimed she believed she had the right to spend the money because she was a widow, proposed paying it back, and could not recall where she had sent her husband’s death certificate. Shockingly, she stated she used portions of the stolen funds to finance social work in Rwanda and the Congo — a justification that holds no weight under federal law.
The federal charges come on the heels of a prior state conviction. On November 19, 2012, Arnow pleaded guilty in Jefferson County, Kentucky, to wanton exploitation of an adult over $300, identity theft, fraudulent credit card use over $500, and theft by unlawful taking of property exceeding $500. She was sentenced to four years on each count and placed in a five-year diversion program — now under threat of revocation due to the new federal fraud conviction.
Arnow is scheduled for sentencing in U.S. District Court in Louisville on March 6, 2016, at 11:30 a.m. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Joshua Judd and investigated by the Social Security Administration – Office of the Inspector General. If sentenced, Arnow faces significant prison time and full restitution for one of the longest-running benefit fraud schemes uncovered in the region.
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Key Facts
- State: Kentucky
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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