FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida woman has been convicted of stealing Social Security benefits for years after her grandparents died.
A U.S. Attorney’s Office news release says a jury found 49-year-old Myriam Etienne guilty Wednesday of 90 counts of theft of government funds. She faces up to 10 years in federal prison for each count at her April sentencing.
Authorities say the Pompano Beach woman began receiving Social Security Supplemental Security Income on behalf of her grandparents in 2004. Trial evidence revealed that Etienne’s grandfather died in Haiti in 2006, and her grandmother died in Haiti in 2009. But Etienne didn’t report the deaths to the government and continued to receive over $130,000 in payments until an audit flagged them as suspicious in 2016.
Etienne was arrested in October.
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