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84-YEAR-OLD WOMAN PLEADS GUILTY TO CASHING DEAD
SISTER'S VA CHECKS -- Also cashed Social
Security
checks. Court gives her two years probation.
Story here...
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/
x/pittsburghtrib/news/today/s_491190.html
Story below:
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Elderly Lincoln-Lemington woman pleads guilty
to federal fraud
By Tony LaRussa
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
An elderly widow who pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to
cashing her dead sister's benefit checks worried she couldn't continue
raising her two grandchildren if her income was cut in half.
Kathleen Givens, 84, of Lincoln-Lemington, pleaded guilty to cashing 24
veterans benefits checks issued to Emogene Goggin, who died in 1994.
Givens used some of the money from the cashed checks to pay for her
sister's funeral.
"This woman is emotionally devastated by this. She's a strong Christian
who led a life of hard work, and never did anything wrong before," said
Marketa Sims, the federal public defender who represented Givens. "She
is very remorseful for her actions, but it has left her depressed."
Federal prosecutors previously charged Givens with 21 counts of cashing
her sister's Social Security checks and sentenced her to two years'
probation after she pleaded guilty. She was ordered to repay the Social
Security Administration $48,752. The latest charges were filed after the
government learned Givens was cashing the veterans benefits checks.
Federal prosecutors declined to comment and Givens could not be reached.
Sentencing is scheduled for April 30.
At the time she was charged, Givens was caring for Goggin in her home
and providing care to another sister -- 102-year-old Lillian Armstrong
-- who lived nearby, according to court records. Armstrong since has
been placed in a nursing home.
In addition, Givens is raising two grandsons, one of whom is physically
disabled. The boys' birth mother is Givens' foster daughter, who suffers
from multiple sclerosis and lives in a nursing home.
On top of a Social Security check of about $1,100 a month that Givens
collects for herself, Goggin was receiving $1,212 a month -- $660 from
Social Security and a veterans check for about $552.
And Givens received $200 a month from the Allegheny County Office of
Children, Youth and Families for her 13-year-old grandson, who has lived
with Givens since age 5.
The older of the two boys, who is 18, suffers from the congenital
deformity talipes, or club feet. He has lived with Givens since birth.
However, she was not entitled to any benefits for him because Givens
adopted him.
"We like to think that when somebody reaches this age they only have
themselves to worry about and not have to take care of other people,"
Sims said. "But this is a case where she faced losing half the family's
income and still having to raise the boys. Her biggest fear now is that
if she goes to jail, the boys will have no place to go."
Tony LaRussa can be reached at
tlarussa@tribweb.com.
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Larry Scott
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