Shreveport woman sentenced to 12 months for stealing more than $39,000 in Social Security payments

SHREVEPORT, La. – United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced that a Shreveport woman was sentenced Thursday to 12 months and one day in prison for stealing more than $39,000 in Social Security benefit payments.

Stephanie D. Lynn, 46, of Shreveport, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge S. Maurice Hicks Jr. on one count of theft of government funds. She was also sentenced to serve three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $39,435 in restitution. According to evidence presented at the January 15, 2015 guilty plea, Lynn cashed and used her deceased son’s Social Security benefit checks from May 2009 to December 2013. She also did not inform the Social Security Administration that her son had died and submitted paperwork stating that he was alive in order to continue receiving the checks. The total amount taken was $39,435.

The Social Security Administration, Office of Inspector General, conducted the investigation.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth D. Reeg prosecuted the case.