Wasilla Man Sentenced for Fraud in Scheme to Unlawfully Obtain Social Security Retirement Benefits

Anchorage, Alaska – United States Attorney Karen L. Loeffler announced today that William S. Stemmons, 31, of Wasilla, was sentenced to five years of probation for committing fraud against the Social Security Administration. 

Chief United States District Court Judge Ralph R. Beistline imposed the sentence on February 4, ordering Stemmons to serve four months of home confinement and imposing restitution in the amount of $57,991.40.  Stemmons was indicted in Denver, Colorado, in June 2013 on charges that he committed wire fraud, made false statements, and engaged in aggravated identity theft as part of a scheme to fraudulently obtain social security retirement benefits in his father’s name.

The case was transferred from Colorado to Alaska with the agreement of the United States Attorney’s Offices and the United States District Courts in both states.  On November 20, 2013, Stemmons pled guilty to one count of wire fraud, admitting that between 2006 and 2010 he fraudulently obtained retirement benefits in the name of his father, who was then living outside the United States and had not applied for the payments.  The scheme was discovered when Stemmons’ father did apply for retirement benefits, triggering the investigation that identified Stemmons’ thefts.

According to the sentencing memorandum filed by the prosecution, Stemmons was working in law enforcement and as a military security guard during the period that he was defrauding the United States.

The case was investigated by the Social Security Administration, Office of the Inspector General, Office of Investigations, in Denver and Seattle, and was prosecuted jointly by the United States Attorney’s Offices for the Districts of Alaska and Colorado.