A woman who used her dead mother’s Social Security number to claim benefits for more than two decades will be placed on probation and must pay back the money, a judge decided Monday.
Terri Sue Potter, 58, . She claimed benefits using the Social Security number of her deceased mother, Helen Browning Potter, who was born in 1911.
The theft was discovered because of the Social Security Administration’s Centenarian Program, which reaches out to all members over 100 to see if they need additional benefits. When employees attempted to contact Helen Browning Potter, they discovered she had died in 1987.
Terri Potter was convicted Dec. 10 of three counts of felony theft.
Adams County District Judge Jill Ellyn Straus sentenced Potter to 15 years of economic crime probation and ordered her to perform 100 hours of community service to the elderly or homeless. Potter will also serve 90 days in home detention.
