A Phillips County woman pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal charge of theft of government benefits, admitting that she forged her deceased aunt's name to keep receiving the woman's veterans benefits for nine years after the aunt's death.
Laura Whitehead of Lexa admitted to Chief U.S. District Judge Brian S. Miller that she stole $118,672 from 2006-15 by forging her aunt's name to cash her benefit checks, leading the Department of Veterans Affairs to believe that the older woman, Norma Jean Parker, was still alive.
Whitehead had taken care of Parker until Parker's death on July 1, 2006. Afterward, according to a plea agreement, Whitehead forged and deposited into her and her husband's bank account one check issued by the U.S. Treasury Department to her aunt, to compensate herself for special equipment that had been used to care for Parker. The checks then continued to be mailed to Parker, but Whitehead didn't cash any of them for over a year.
Whitehead admitted that she forged the checks and deposited them into the joint account in late 2007, and then continued to do so until the department terminated the benefits in 2015. She admitted gambling away the money at a casino, and acknowledged that in 2014, she forged and returned a questionnaire from the agency so she could keep receiving the money.
"The defendant stated that she knew she was not entitled to Parker's [treasury] checks, but there were just so many things she had to pay," according to the agreement, negotiated by Whitehead's attorney, Cara Boyd Connors, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristin Bryant.
The plea agreement indicates that the department stopped sending the checks after investigators with its office of inspector general discovered that Parker had continued to receive Dependence and Indemnity Compensation benefits after her death.
Federal agents interviewed Whitehead on April 5, 2016, at which time she admitted forging and cashing the checks until they stopped arriving.
When sentenced, Whitehead will be required to make full restitution of $118,672.04 to the taxpayer-funded agency. She also will face possible prison time of up to 10 years and a potential fine of up to $250,000.
Metro on 05/26/2017