​Amherst Woman Pleads Guilty to Social Security, Medicaid, Food Stamp Fraud

CONCORD, NH — A New Hampshire woman will be sentenced in May after pleading guilty to making false statements that assisted in her illegally receiving more than $115,000 in various benefits she was not entitled to, according to the U.S. District Court. Mary Sosa, 57, of Amherst, pleaded guilty on Jan. 26, 2017, after receiving the benefits between 1997 and 2014.

Sousa, according to court documents, received Social Security disability benefits, Medicaid, and Food Stamps while not informing the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services that she was married.

"Eligibility for each of these benefits programs is based, in part, on the applicant having limited income and resources," U.S. Attorney Emily Gray Rice said in a statement. "In assessing a married individual’s eligibility for Social Security disability benefits, Medicaid, and Food Stamps, the income of the applicant’s spouse is considered."

Sosa married in September 2001, but she failed to disclose her marriage; instead, she reported that she was never married. When she finally admitted to Social Security in 2014 that she was married, she falsely stated that her husband moved out of their residence two days after their wedding. Similarly, in connection with her claims for Medicaid and Food Stamps, Sosa erroneously informed the state that she was never married and she failed to identify her husband as a member of her household.

"Her husband’s income would have rendered her ineligible to receive any Supplemental Security Income benefits, Medicaid, and Food Stamps," Rice stated. "As a result of concealing her marriage and her husband’s true residence from the Social Security Administration and from the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, Sosa fraudulently received $91,669.38 in disability benefits, $21,524.59 in Medicaid, and $1,963 in Food Stamps."

Sosa is scheduled to be sentenced on May 4, 2017. She was released on conditions pending sentencing.

The case was investigated by the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General and the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services’ Special Investigations Unit, with assistance from the town of Amherst Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Karen Burzycki.