Norwalk man sentenced in $90K Social Security fraud case

NORWALK, Conn. – A Norwalk man has been sentenced to six months of imprisonment for illegally receiving his mother’s Social Security benefits after her death, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut David B. Fein announced Monday.

Paul Wiegman, 56, was also ordered to serve two years of supervised release, the first six months of which he must spend in home confinement under electronic monitoring, and to pay restitution in the amount of $90,188, Fein said.

Wiegman’s mother died in December 2002 at her home, which she shared with Wiegman, Fein said. She had been receiving Social Security Retirement Insurance Benefit and Widow’s Benefit payments; Wiegman did not tell authorizes of her death, Fein said. A total of $90,188 was deposited into her bank account between her death and April 2010, Fein said. Wiegman spent it, he said.

When asked by SSA officials about the matter, Wiegman said his mother was still alive but was unable to speak, and that she was alive and living with a family friend, Fein said.

Wiegman pleaded guilty on July 20 to one count of theft of government property. He was

sentenced Monday by United States District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport

Wiegman’s brother, Gary Wiegman, 55, was sentenced to six months of probation Dec. 5 for making false statements to federal agents. On May 17, 2010, Gary Wiegman told special agents who were investigating the case that his mother was alive when he knew that she was dead. He pleaded pleaded guilty on Sept. 7 to one count of being an accessory after the fact to theft of government property.

This case was investigated by the Office of the Inspector General for the Social Security Administration and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Felice Duffy.