Caroline Bighair, Social Security Fraud, Montana 2024

Nine Montanans Convicted of $540K Social Security Fraud

U.S. Attorney Michael W. Cotter announced today the culmination of a federal operation that found nine Montanans engaged in Social Security fraud.

Dubbed ‘Operation Save our Social Security,’ or Operation S.O.S., the operation uncovered approximately a half-million dollars in fraudulent payments to individuals in Montana, which occurred when the individuals provided false information or made misrepresentations on their paperwork for Supplemental Security Income (SSI), which also impacts eligibility for other federal assistance.

In total, the operation uncovered approximately $390,000 in social security fraud, $107,288 in Medicaid fraud and $34,500 in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) fraud.

The individuals have been ordered to pay back the money they stole, including the final individual, Caroline Bighair, who was sentenced today to pay back $23,424 and to three years of supervised release.

“Supplemental Security Income relies on the truthfulness and personal integrity of the people who apply for and receive it,” said U.S. Attorney Cotter. “When people get greedy and lie to the government in order to get more money than they deserve, the people who actually qualify and need the money to survive are harmed.”

These individuals repeatedly lied, cheated and stole from some of the most vulnerable residents of Montana, said Special Agent in Charge Wilbert Craig of the Social Security Administration/Office of Inspector General Denver Field Division.

The following individuals were convicted as part of the operation: Caroline Bighair, Vicky Blair, Tonya Brackett, Meghan Gontz, Nelson Grandchamp, Earline Pritchard, Georgia Wetsit, Bonnie Wingo. Another individual agreed to pay back the money through a diversion program due to personal circumstance.

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