Press Release
SEBASTIAN WOMAN INDICTED FOR SOCIAL SECURITY FRAUD
May 7, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Guy P. Fallen, Special Agent in Charge, Social Security Administration, Office of Inspector General, and Amie R. Tanchak, Resident Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), announced that a federal grand jury on April 30, 2009, indicted Penelope Sharon Jordan, of Sebastian, Florida, on charges of social security fraud and theft of United States funds, in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 408 and 18 U.S.C. § 641. Jordan was arraigned in federal court in Fort Pierce on Thursday, May 7, 2009, at an initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Frank J. Lynch, Jr.
According to an affidavit by a Sebastian Police Department detective in support of an application for a state court search warrant, Penelope Jordan lived in a Sebastian home owned by her mother, Timmie Jordan. In late March 2009, the Sebastian Police Department obtained Penelope Jordan's consent to look inside the home, where they found the dead body of Timmie Jordan in a spare bedroom. Penelope Jordan stated that her mother had been dead for at least six years.
The indictment charges that Penelope Jordan concealed the death of her mother and withheld reporting that fact, in order to continue receiving both her mother's Social Security survivor's benefit payments and her mother's military pension survivor's benefit payments. The indictment alleges that during the period of January 2003 through March 2009, Penelope Jordan received approximately $61,415 in Social Security payments, plus $176,461 of military pension benefits, to which she was not entitled.
Mr. Acosta commended the investigative efforts of the Social Security Administration-Office of Inspector General, and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), as well as the efforts of City of Sebastian animal control and building code officers, and the Sebastian Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Theodore Cooperstein.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
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