okoboji man sentenced for defrauding social security
Contact:Peter Deegan
A man who defrauded the Social Security Administration by hiding his financial assets was sentenced January 28, 2011, to 90 days’ imprisonment and ordered to complete 100 hours of community service.
William Arneson, age 57, from Okoboji, Iowa, received the sentence after an October 25, 2010, guilty plea to a charge of concealing and failing to disclose information to the Social Security Administration (SSA) about his income and other monetary resources. At the guilty plea hearing, Arneson admitted he knew he had money available to him that would impact his eligibility for Social Security benefits, he knowing concealed or failed to disclose that information to SSA, and he intended to defraud SSA into paying him more benefits that he was entitled to.
Arneson was sentenced in Sioux City by United States District Court Judge Mark W. Bennett. Arneson was sentenced to 90 days’ imprisonment. A special assessment of $100 was imposed, and he was ordered to make $27,956.76 in restitution to Social Security. Defendant paid that financial obligation on January 28, 2011. He must also serve a 3-year term of supervised release after completing the prison sentence, and he must complete 100 hours of community service during the first two years of his supervised release term.
Arneson is to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on a date yet to be set.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Janet Petersen and investigated by agents of the Social Security Administration’s Office of Inspector General.
Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is 10-4057.
