NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

BRADLEY J. SCHLOZMAN

Contact Don Ledford, Public Affairs ● (816) 426-4220 ● 400 East Ninth Street, Room 5510 ● Kansas City, MO 64106

www.usdoj.gov/usao/mow/index.html

FEBRUARY 2, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DAUGHTER SENTENCED TO 8 MONTHS PRISON

FOR THEFT OF FATHER’S VA BENEFITS

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Bradley J. Schlozman, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Kansas City, Mo., woman was sentenced in federal court yesterday for theft of her father’s Department of Veterans Affairs disability benefits payments.

Mary A. Ebberts, 45, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge John T. Maughmer to 8 months in federal prison without parole and ordered to pay $116,305 in restitution.

On Jan. 19, 2006, Ebberts pleaded guilty to converting to her own use Department of Veterans Affairs disability benefit payments intended for her father. From September 2000 until January 2003, Ebberts was the legal custodian of her veteran father, Charles A. Growney. During this time period Ebberts, as her father’s fiduciary, misappropriated $57,353 in VA benefits for items including writing checks to herself and writing checks to her credit card companies. As part of Ebberts’! sentence, and in addition to 8 months in prison, Ebberts was ordered to repay the $57,353 in VA benefits as well as $58,952 for civil service retirement payments that Ebberts had also misappropriated.

This case was prosecuted by Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney Roseann A. Ketchmark. It was investigated by Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General.

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