According to the Gainesville Times, a Jefferson woman has pleaded guilty to making false statements to the Social Security Administration. Tedra Ditmore, 38, made false statements while applying for survivor’s benefits following her husband’s death.
According to court documents, Ditmore received around $189,000 after telling the SSA she planned to legitimately use the funds for her children and their care. The SSA investigated and found that Ditmore’s children did not live with her and further, her husband did not provide 50 percent of their childcare and support while alive, as per Ditmore’s original claims.
The government argued that Ditmore received Social Security benefits on behalf of her children for benefits they did not deserve. Her fraudulent statements to the SSA might send her to federal prison.
Ditmore told the court that she made false statements to the SSA when she received benefits between 2005 and 2009. Her original children’s insurance survivor’s benefits claim was filed in 2005m a year after her husband died. Initial statements claimed Ditmore provided housing, caring and supporting of her two children. The investigators found that the children had been living with their biological father and were not biological children or survivors of the deceased.
Ditmore faces a maximum of five years in prison as well as a fine up to $250,000.
