Crime & Safety
Martha's Vineyard Man Admits to $160K Social Security Scheme
Vernon Harris, 63, illegally received Social Security benefits while running a trucking brokerage firm, prosecutors said.

MARTHA’S VINEYARD, MA — A Martha’s Vineyard man this week admitted to stealing $160,000 in Social Security benefits.
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Vernon Harris, 63, on Thursday pleaded guilty to theft and tax evasion in federal court in Boston.
Prosecutors said in 2002, Harris applied for Social Security benefits, claiming he stopped working in 2001 due to disabilities. In reality, however, Harris ran SilkRoad Ligistics—a trucking brokerage firm—out of his home. He wrote himself checks totaling as much as $70,000 some years while he collected disability and ran the business through 2015, prosecutors said.
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He was arrested in November when authorities uncovered the scheme. Police said he also falsified tax records.
Harris will be sentenced March 10.
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