Illinois Woman Sentenced for Theft of Government Funds
June 03, 2013
A Mount Vernon woman, Mary Barnett-Johnson, 51, convicted of Theft of Government Funds in February of this year, was sentenced in United States District Court on May 31, 2013, to five years of probation and was also ordered to pay $85,353.00 in restitution, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Stephen R. Wigginton, announced today.
Barnett-Johnson was charged in an indictment on December 11, 2012, by a Federal Grand Jury sitting in East St. Louis, Illinois. At her plea, on February 22, 2013, Barnett- Johnson admitted that she had fraudulently continued to receive and use her deceased mother’s social security benefits knowing that she was not entitled to receive or use those funds for her own personal benefit. Barnett-Johnson admitted that she received $85,353.00 in social security payments from August of 2003 through September of 2011 that were intended for her mother, who died in 2003. The investigation was conducted by the Social Security Administration’s Office of Inspector General and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ranley R. Killian.A Mount Vernon woman, Mary Barnett-Johnson, 51, convicted of Theft of Government Funds in February of this year, was sentenced in United States District Court on May 31, 2013, to five years of probation and was also ordered to pay $85,353.00 in restitution, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Stephen R. Wigginton, announced today.
Barnett-Johnson was charged in an indictment on December 11, 2012, by a Federal Grand Jury sitting in East St. Louis, Illinois. At her plea, on February 22, 2013, Barnett- Johnson admitted that she had fraudulently continued to receive and use her deceased mother’s social security benefits knowing that she was not entitled to receive or use those funds for her own personal benefit. Barnett-Johnson admitted that she received $85,353.00 in social security payments from August of 2003 through September of 2011 that were intended for her mother, who died in 2003. The investigation was conducted by the Social Security Administration’s Office of Inspector General and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ranley R. Killian.