FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
AUSA VICKIE E. LEDUC or
MARCIA MURPHY at 410-209-4885
JULY 28, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
UPPER MARLBORO MAN SENTENCED FOR STEALING OVER $180,000 IN FEDERAL RETIREMENT BENEFITS DURING A 10 YEAR PERIOD
Greenbelt, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams, Jr. sentenced Harold Sims, age 59, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, today to 15 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for stealing $180,538.53 in annuity payments which he wrongfully received under the federal government’s Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) program. Judge Williams entered an order requiring Sims to pay $180,538.53 in restitution.
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein and Patrick E. McFarland of the Office of Personnel Management - Inspector General.
According to Sims’ guilty plea, Sims’ grandmother was receiving CSRS payments as the spouse of a deceased retired federal employee. Sims’ grandmother died on December 31, 1995. At the time of her death, CSRS annuity payments of $1,598.18 per month were being deposited electronically into a bank account maintained jointly by Sims and his grandmother. OPM was not informed of the grandmother’s death, which would have stopped the payments. Rather, Sims took the monthly payments from 1996 to 2006 in the total amount of $180,538.53 that were intended for the benefit of his grandmother.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended Assistant United States Attorney Jonathan C. Su, who prosecuted the case.