A 73-year-old man has been sentenced to 15 months in a federal prison after he collected $465,000 in Social Security and other retirement benefits over an 11-year span.
U.S. District Judge Wiley Y. Daniel also ordered Ernie Atchley to serve three years of supervised release after his prison term, according to a Friday news release by Jeff Dorschner, spokesman for U.S. Attorney John Walsh.
Atchley is required to repay $465,000 for fraudulently cashing his mother’s retirement benefits from July 21, 2001, to August 2012, Dorschner wrote in the news release.
“Concealing the death of a loved one in order to is reprehensible,” said Wilbert Craig, special agent in charge of the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General.
During the time that Atchley collected his mother’s Social Security benefits, the payments increased from $897 per month to $1,277 a month. He illegally received a total of $151,526 in Social Security payments.
Atchley also continued to receive California Public Employees’ Retirement System and Los Angeles County Employees’ Retirement Association benefits intended for his mother totalling $317,371.
Atchley had been appointed as her conservator before her death. All her payments before and after her death .
The case against Atchley was investigated by the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General. The defendant was prosecuted by special assistant U.S. attorney Daniel Burrows.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206, denverpost.com/coldcases or twitter.com/kirkmitchell
