Ex-Doctor Gets Prison For Posing As Dead Mom To Collect Benefits

SILVER SPRING, MD — A former physician from Silver Spring will spend two years in prison after fraudulently collecting more than half a million dollars of her deceased mother's pension and retirement benefits.

Crystal Mebane McGinty — who spent 13 years cashing her late mother's Social Security and City of New York teachers' retirement checks — was also ordered to forfeit and pay $517,000 in restitution.

The 59-year-old woman pleaded guilty to mail fraud and theft of government property in October, court documents reveal.

According to her plea agreement, McGinty did not tell the Social Security Administration or the Teachers' Retirement System of the City of New York that her mother had died in June 2005 — and, instead, continued to fraudulently cash her deceased mother's checks until June 2018.

McGinty, who was listed as the informant on the death certificate, deposited the checks into a joint checking account. The checks, according to federal prosecutors, bore McGinty's signature and her mother's signature.

To ensure the cash kept coming, McGinty submitted fake proof-of-life forms to the teachers' retirement system, including some in which she identified herself as her late mother's physician, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

But when the teacher's retirement system stopped mailing the pension checks, McGinty called the office and pretended to be her deceased mother, in hopes of getting the benefits reinstated.

McGinty also admitted to using the money to pay for the mortgage and utility bills at her Silver Spring home, renewal of her medical license, tuition at a private high school in Washington, D.C., and international and domestic travel — which included a cruise vacation.

The Maryland Board of Physicians suspended McGinty's license on Jan. 17, 2019. She permanently surrendered her license on April 23, 2019.