ALBANY, N.Y. (1010 WINS) — A man pretended to be his dead father, a retired Nassau County Clerk employee whose body has not been found, in order to steal over $200,000 in retirement benefits, authorities said Tuesday.
Timothy Gritman, 55, of Pennsylvania, was arrested and has pleaded guilty to wire and Social Security fraud. He is due to be sentenced on May 31.
Gritman's father, Ralph Gritman, who retired as a New York state pensioner in 1992, moved with his son to Wyoming from Pennsylvania in August 2017, State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli said in a news release. According to Medicare records, the father visited a hospital emergency room in Wyoming a month later, the last time his Medicare benefits were used.
The father and son shared a joint bank account where Ralph's retirement benefits were electronically deposited. Both Ralph Gritman’s pension and Social Security benefits were to cease upon his death, but Timothy Gritman "covered up his father’s death in order to continue to receive his retirement benefits," the release said.
In 2019, Timothy Gritman told a family member that his father had died several years earlier, but would not say where he was buried or what had happened to his body. Ralph Gritman’s body still has not been located.
"Timothy Gritman hid his father's death to collect his pension and Social Security payments for more than four years, going so far as posing as his deceased father to keep his fraud going," DiNapoli said.
Ultimately, Ralph Gritman's pension benefits were stopped when a call was made to DiNapoli's Fraud Hotline, but "Gritman continued to purport that his father was alive and requested that his pension payments be resumed."
From October 2017 through October 2022, the son received $87,790 in Social Security benefits and $117,194 in pension benefits from the New York State and Local Retirement System.
"Timothy Gritman lied about his father's whereabouts and pretended to be his father on multiple occasions," the release said.
When DiNapoli's office sought to determine whether Ralph Gritman was alive and asked to speak with him, Timothy Gritman "would either say he was asleep or would try to imitate his voice," the release added.
Pushed for photographic evidence of his father holding a current ID card, he sent investigators "a picture of himself, in which he tried to disguise himself as his father, holding a bogus Pennsylvania State identification card."
"He has been brought to justice," DiNapoli added.
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