How a 75-Year-Old Woman Scammed Social Security for Over 2 Decades
A 75-year-old Iowa woman is heading to prison after pleading guilty to a single count of wire fraud.
Ella Mae Woods, 75, collected her mother’s Social Security benefits for 28 years after she died in 1994, according to prosecutors for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Vermont. In total, Woods pocketed $332,000 in fraudulent benefits, say prosecutors.
She now faces up to 24 months in prison when she is sentenced in August.
The Deceptive Scheme
A grand jury indicted Woods on two counts of fraud in September 2022 for “obtaining money from the Social Security Administration by means of materially false and fraudulent pretenses caused monthly electronic transfer of funds to a TD Bank account” and “knowingly [stealing] and [converting] to her own use monthly benefits payments made by the Social Security Administration,” according to a copy of the grand jury indictment obtained by Inside Edition Digital.
The Elaborate Cover-Up
Woods managed to fly under the radar after the death of her mother, Jeanette Styles, in 1994 by forging the dead woman’s signature and creating joint accounts, one of which she provided to the Social Security Administration so that the agency could direct deposit her mother’s checks, according to the indictment.
The Fallout
This all came crashing down in 2022 when officials learned of Styles’ death and arrested her daughter.
Woods is now in custody ahead of her sentencing by order of the judge, who remanded the defendant to jail after filing an arrest warrant when Woods failed to appear in court for a pre-trial hearing in April. Judge Christina Reiss wrote in her order that Woods “failed to maintain contact and compliance with her USPO” and “failed to appear for multiple court appearances.” Judge Reiss wrote: “The court finds there are no reasonable conditions to assure her appearance at trial.”
The public defender representing Woods did not respond to a request for comment.