Joanne Guppy sentenced in Social Security scam

A woman who used to live in Floral Park and Bellerose was sentenced to 2 years and 30 days in prison Friday for a complex scam that cheated Social Security out of $145,000, according to officials.

Joanne Guppy, 36, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Arthur Spatt in Central Islip after pleading guilty to wire fraud and identity theft. Guppy was also ordered to repay the $145,000.

Before she was sentenced, Guppy, who has been in jail since her arrest last year, told Spatt, "I admit what I did was wrong. I learned my lesson painfully, every single day since I was arrested."

Guppy, and her late brother, Richard Guppy, operated the scheme in which they filed more than 40 claims for Social Security retirement benefits in 2010 in the names of dead people, according to court documents filed by Kevin Reinhard, an agent with the inspector general of the Social Security Administration.

Richard Guppy, then 30, who lived in Florida, committed suicide in October 2010, shortly after his sister was arrested and while investigators were searching for him, officials and the court papers said.

About two dozen of the bogus benefit requests were initially accepted, and the two pocketed the $145,000 before officials in the Social Security Administration's Mineola office found some of the claims were suspicious, according to the court papers and officials. The reason for the suspicion was not disclosed.

As outlined in court by Eastern District U.S. Attorney William Campos, the scam involved trolling the Internet to gather details on the deaths of middle-aged people who had no heirs.

Guppy and her brother then filed claims for benefits using an online Social Security filing system known as iClaims, and had any benefits sent to various addresses that they had rented or at which they had paid residents to accept the benefit checks, officials said.

The iClaims procedure allows people to file for benefits over the Internet without having to make a personal appearance at a Social Security office.

Richard Guppy was not only being sought by investigators for involvement in the Social Security scheme, but also for an unrelated indictment for bank fraud, according to officials.