A scheming son was sentenced to eight years in jail for pocketing a year’s worth of his dead mom’s Social Security payments, authorities said.
Charles Alton Bump, Jr., 62, collected $53,000 earmarked for his mother, former Jamaica, Queens resident Elizabeth Dorothy Case, according to state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.
Case, a retired principal account clerk for New York state, had relocated to Maryland 20 years earlier to move in with her son.
However, in 2019 a concerned neighbor reported to the US Social Security Administration that Case, who was approximately 90 years old at the time, had not been seen in more than a year.
Bump’s con began to crumble when “repeated attempts” by Social Security to contact Case failed, and they requested she show up in person to continue receiving her payments, DiNapoli said.
When Bump appeared instead, skeptical SSA investigators did not buy his tall tale that his mom — who didn’t even have a passport — was on a cruise around the world and was only reachable by email, the comptroller said.
Bump, who pleaded guilty last month to two counts of felony theft, was sentenced to eight years in prison, three years supervised probation and ordered to pay restitution, the watchdog said.
“Mr. Bump’s conviction should serve as a warning to those who try to defraud the New York State Pension system: we will pursue those who attempt to steal from the system wherever they may live,” DiNapoli said.
Misusing Social Security benefits after someone dies is a federal crime—and we will continue to aggressively pursue those who conceal death information to defraud SSA,” Ennis said.