Bergen Woman Collected Dead Mother's Benefits For 8 Years: Indictment

An Englewood resident fraudulently collected more than $128,000 in her mother’s Social Security benefits for eight years after she died, Acting State Attorney General John J. Hoffman said Thursday.

A state grand jury indicted Linda Miller, 58, of Englewood, on second-degree theft by deception Thursday, Hoffman said.

Miller’s mother reportedly died on May 4, 2006. Miller continued to fraudulently collect her mother’s Social Security benefits until July 2014, authorities allege. The money was directly deposited into a bank account in Miller’s name so she could withdraw it, Hoffman said.

Miller will be arraigned in Bergen County Superior Court “at a later date,” Hoffman said.

Miller was also charged in New York with fraudulently collecting pension benefits from the mother’s New York State pension after she died. She plead guilty to third-degree larceny and is awaiting sentencing in that case, Hoffman said. She faces up to a year in prison and five years of supervised release via a plea agreement.

Second-degree crimes in New Jersey carry a sentence of five to 10 years in sate prison and up to a $150,00 fine.

(Pictured: Linda Miller, 58/Courtesy of New Jersey Attorney General‘s Office)