Malden Woman Sentenced for Theft of Government Benefits

BOSTON – A Malden woman was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for collecting over $166,000 in government benefits by providing false information about her family.  

Julie Mijal, 40, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV to one month in prison, two years of supervised release - with the first six months to be served in home confinement - and ordered to pay approximately $166,487 in restitution. In September 2017, Mijal pleaded guilty to three counts of theft of public money and three counts of making false statements.

Mijal has lived in Malden with her children and their father since at least 2003.  During that time, Mijal and her children’s father owned a house together and used the same address on their driver’s licenses, tax returns and other records. 

During those same years, however, Mijal collected needs-based Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits on behalf of her child by telling the Social Security Administration that her child only lived with her and a sibling, and not with the child’s father.  Social Security uses the household’s total income to determine whether someone is eligible for SSI benefits.  As a result, Social Security did not count the father’s income when determining whether Mijal’s child was eligible for benefits.  Mijal collected $87,053 in SSI benefits that she would not have received if she had reported that her children’s father was also part of the household.  In a similar manner, Mijal collected $47,745 in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits and $31,688 in MassHealth benefits by failing to disclose that her children’s father lived with them.

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; Scott Antolik, Special Agent in Charge of the Social Security Administration, Office of Inspector General, Office of Investigations, Boston Field Division; and Suzanne M. Bump, State Auditor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, made the announcement.  Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Burzycki of Lelling’s Major Crimes Unit prosecuted the case.