SOCIAL SECURITY LAW: SS Beneficiaries and Disabled Warned on Fraud Anew

October 23, 2011

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Authorities have cautioned Social Security beneficiaries and disabled against fraud after Philadelphia police arrested Linda Ann Weston who had managed to use several mentally challenged adults as their representative payee and collected their monthly benefits amounting to about $660 to $900 each, reports said.

Reports said Weston was arrested last week when her landlord found found four malnourished, mentally disabled adults in her basement.

She is charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault, false imprisonment and other charges, and is scheduled to make her first court appearance Monday. She was charged in 1983 with killing her sister's boyfriend by locking him in a closet for weeks until he died of starvation. She was found incompetent to stand trial but pleaded guilty to the murder charge in 1985. She was paroled in 1987.

Authorities believed Weston is engaged in extensive fraud scheme after they found more than 50 Social Security cards, power of attorney documents and other related documents when she was arrested in her daughter’s apartment. Her daughter was also charged.