On September 25, 2017, a woman in Malden, Massachusetts pleaded guilty to collecting more than $176,000 in government benefits by providing false information about her family. 40-year-old Julie Mijal pleaded guilty to three counts of theft of public money, as well as three counts of making false statements. The defendant will be sentenced on December 13, 2017.
Mijal has resided in Malden with her children and their father since at least 2003. During that period, Mijal and the father owned a house together. They used the same address on their licenses, tax returns and other records. However, Mijal collected Supplemental Security Income benefits for her children by telling the Social Security Administration that her children only lived with her and a sibling. The father was never acknowledged.
The Social Security Administration received false income information and concluded that Mijal’s child was eligible for benefits. In total, Mijal received $87,052 in SSI benefits that she was not entitled to and would not have received had she reported the father’s income. The defendant also collected $47,745 in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits and $41,435 in MassHealth benefits.
A charge of theft of public money carries a sentence of no greater than ten years in prison, as well as three years of supervised release. A charge of making a false statement carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Again, Julie Mijal will be sentenced on December 13, 2017.