Raymond Man Pleads Guilty To Stealing Social Security Benefits

            CONCORD, N.H. – United States Attorney Emily Gray Rice announced that Raymond Dostie, Jr., 61, of Raymond, pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of Theft of Public Money.

            According to public records in the case and statements made in court, Dostie began receiving Social Security disability benefits in December 2005.  In September 2012, Dostie started working as a personal care attendant.  His income from this job rendered him ineligible to receive any disability benefits.  Dostie did not report this work activity to the Social Security Administration (SSA), but instead, he falsely told the SSA that he had worked part-time as a driver and a custodian, only, reporting wages that did not affect his eligibility for benefits.  In early 2015, Dostie admitted to investigators that he had concealed his work and income as a personal care attendant from the SSA in order to continue receiving disability benefits.  To that end, from September 2012 through December 2014, Dostie stated that he was paid for this work by checks, all of which were made payable to his wife, because he knew these earnings would have rendered him ineligible for benefits.  As a result of his concealment, Dostie was able to convert approximately $68,140.90 in disability benefits to his own use that he would not have received if the SSA had been aware of his actual work activity and income. 

            Dostie is scheduled to be sentenced on March 8, 2017. 

            The case was investigated by the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General and the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General, and prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Karen Burzycki.

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