CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A Chicago life coach and counselor is paying back the Social Security Administration big time after pleading guilty to charges last year.
After his mother's death in 2016, Robbie Peters was accused by authorities of using a debit card to spend over $70,000 of her Social Security retirement benefits on dining, travel, and entertainment. The spending went on for over three years. SSA was not notified of her death.
After the SSA Office of the Inspector General received a tip through its fraud hotline, investigators interviewed Peters in August 2019 at the residence he previously shared with his mother. Initially, he stated that his mother was not at home and would return the following week. Peters only acknowledged his mother’s death after investigators confronted him with their knowledge that she had passed away. Peters then admitted that his mother was, in fact, deceased.
"This individual not only misused these benefits for years, but also continued to do so even after advised not to by Federal law enforcement agents,” said Wayland Quon, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of the SSA OIG Chicago Field Division. “Anyone who fails to report a death to Social Security should take heed of this sentence and know that we will come knocking on the door.”
Peters eventually admitted using the funds and pleaded guilty to the theft of government funds charge in September 2020. In February 2021, he was sentenced to two years of probation, six months of which is home detention. He was also ordered to make full restitution to SSA.
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