Former Rocky Hill Resident Charged With Social Security Fraud

ROCKY HILL, CT - A former Rocky Hill resident now living in Ireland has been charged with Social Security fraud.

Deirdre M. Daly, the United States attorney for the District of Connecticut, made the announcement Tuesday.

As a result, she said, Maryanne Stephens, 68, has been charged with with bank fraud, theft of public money, and aggravated identity theft offenses stemming from a scheme to steal Social Security retirement benefits that had been deposited into her deceased mother-in-law’s bank account.

Stephens has been living in Ireland, but is a former Rocky Hill resident, Daly said.

A grand jury indictment was returned on Sept. 18, 2012, and was unsealed on April 20, when Stephens was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.

Stephens appeared Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah A. L. Merriam in New Haven and entered a plea of not guilty to the charges, Daly said.

Stephens' mother-in-law died in October 1998, Daly said.

The indictment alleges that, from approximately March 2004 to December 2010, Stephens forged the signature of her mother-in-law on bank checks in order to fraudulently obtain funds held in her mother-in-law's bank account, including Social Security retirement benefits that were deposited into the account after Stephens' mother-in-law had died.

Approximately $200,000 in Social Security benefits were deposited into the mother-in-law’s bank account after she died, according to the indictment.

If convicted, Stephens faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 30 years for bank fraud, a maximum term of 10 years for theft of public money, and a mandatory, consecutive two-year term for aggravated identity theft, Daly said.

Stephens has surrendered her passport and is released on a $200,000 bond, Daly said.