Man ‘deceitfully’ receiving $130,000 in disability was caught heavy lifting, feds say
A Utah man was working full time, lifting heavy equipment as part of his job, when he reported to the Social Security Administration he hadn’t worked for more than a decade — and had trouble standing and walking, federal prosecutors said.
He “deceitfully” received $130,901 in Social Security disability benefits he didn’t deserve, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah.
The man was granted disability benefits in 2012 after he reported a back injury prevented him from working, according to prosecutors.
But in March 2017, he didn’t disclose to the administration that he started working for a lawn care company, earning $4,400 a month, prosecutors said.
In October and November 2023, SSA agents watched the man perform manual labor at work and caught him doing heavy lifting, prosecutors said.
Several photos from surveillance footage were included in court documents, showing the man walking, placing a large lawn mower into a trailer, lifting a 70-pound steel ramp to his eye level and “bending over and twisting his back.”
Prosecutors said he “came clean” after he was recorded by SSA agents, and after the agents interviewed his boss. He later pleaded guilty to theft of government property on July 1, according to officials.
Now the 53-year-old, of Sandy, has been sentenced to one year of home detention and four years of probation, and he must pay $130,901 in restitution, the U.S. attorney’s office said in a Sept. 10 news release.
His federal public defender didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment Sept. 10.
After the man was approved for disability in November 2012, the SSA repeatedly informed him he needed to report any changes in employment, income and his physical condition, prosecutors said.
Since the man was paid “under the table” when he started working for the lawn care business in 2017, he was able to hide his income and “ability to work,” according to court documents.
The SSA eventually received tips that he was working, according to prosecutors.
Following these tips, the SSA “gave (him) the opportunity to complete a Continuing Disability Review Report,” but “he failed to respond,” prosecutors said.
As a result, his disability benefits were suspended, according to prosecutors.
In November, he filed a Continuing Disability Review report at the SSA office in South Jordan in which he lied and reported he hadn’t worked since 2011, prosecutors said.
In December, he “admitted” to working, according to prosecutors.
His legal counsel, Emily A. Stirba, wrote in a sentencing memorandum that “his conduct in this case arose from difficult personal circumstances — (he) was negotiating financial strain in the aftermath of serious injury — but he knows that is no excuse.”
“He was deeply wrong, and he intends to spend the rest of his life repaying the community from which he took,” Stirba added.
The man previously was convicted in Utah in 2005 after officials said he tried to receive unemployment benefits while he had a job, according to prosecutors.
Sandy is about a 20-mile drive southeast of downtown Salt Lake City.
This story was originally published September 11, 2024 at 12:15 PM with the headline "Man ‘deceitfully’ receiving $130,000 in disability was caught heavy lifting, feds say."
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