MAN SENTENCED FOR THEFT OF RETIREMENT BENEFITS

Vernon Geier, 67, of Las Vegas, Nevada, was sentenced last Thursday by U.S. District Judge William F. Downes for interstate theft from the Public Employee Retirement System of Idaho (PERSI). Geier was sentenced to five years on probation, during which he will serve three months of incarceration and three months of home detention. Vernon Geier admitted and pled guilty to the charge in August 2008.

Between January 2002 and November 2004, Geier and his mother had bank accounts at Wells Fargo in Las Vegas, Nevada. His mother received retirement benefits from PERSI, which were electronically deposited into her account. Geier’s mother died in January 2002 but Geier did not notify PERSI of her death. As a result, PERSI continued to electronically transfer funds into his mother’s account until November 2004 when PERSI was apprised by other sources that Ms. Geier was deceased. The initial loss amount was approximately $65,000.

Geier was ordered to pay restitution to PERSI of $45,913 where a portion of the loss was immediately recovered through offset provisions.

United States Attorney Thomas E. Moss commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation for their diligence in investigating the fraud on PERSI public investment funds. “In these days it is vitally important for the public to be assured that fraud committed against retirement and investment accounts is going to be aggressively pursued through the criminal justice system.”