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WIDOW SCAMS VA OUT OF $137,000 -- Didn't notify VA that

she had remarried in 1981. Also scammed Amtrak out

$133,000 by not reporting second husband's death.

 

 

Story here... http://www.philly.com/
philly/hp/news_update/8675997.html

Story below:

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Widow pleads guilty in 270G retirement scam

By MICHAEL HINKELMAN
hinkelm@phillynews.com 215-854-2656

 

Joeann Martin Barnes had an affinity for spending other people's money.

After the death of her first husband, and again after the death of her second, Barnes fleeced federal agencies out of death and retirement benefits, for a total of nearly $270,000, the government said.

Barnes, 67, of Belmont Avenue near Conshohocken Avenue, pleaded guilty yesterday to making false statements and converting government funds.

She could face from 18 to 24 months in jail under federal sentencing guidelines.

She also agreed as part of her plea to pay the $270,000 back to the government.

"She's trying to make amends; she's a religious woman," said David Nenner, Barnes' attorney.

Barnes was released on her own recognizance and will be sentenced in October.

Barnes' first husband, Theodore R. Martin, was a military veteran who died in 1975.

The Department of Veterans Affairs provides benefits to surviving spouses in cases in which the vet had a service-related disability.

Barnes was supposed to notify the department if she remarried so the benefits could be discontinued.

When Barnes remarried in 1981, she didn't tell Veterans Affairs.

In fact, the feds said, she signed a statement in September 2006 attesting that she had not remarried.

Barnes pocketed almost $137,000 in benefits for which she wasn't eligible.

Barnes' second husband, Leroy Barnes, was a retired Amtrak worker who died in 1991.

She didn't report her second husband's death to the Railroad Retirment Board (RRB), which paid him a monthly retirement annuity.

Those benefits were to be cut off upon Leroy Barnes' death.

Barnes had her second husband's monthly retirement checks - worth almost $133,000 in total - electronically deposited into a joint account she had shared with her deceased husband.

In April 2003, the RRB learned that Leroy Barnes had died 12 years earlier and cut off the retirement payments.

The agency became suspicious after a mailing they sent to Leroy Barnes was returned as undeliverable.

Shortly thereafter, authorities began an investigation.

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Larry Scott  --