Fall River Woman Pleads Guilty to Stealing Child’s Social Security Benefits

BOSTON (WBSM) — A Fall River woman faces up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to stealing nearly $90,000 in Social Security benefits intended for her child.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Nancy Taylor, 45, pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston on February 12 to one count of theft of public funds.

Taylor will be sentenced on May 12.

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The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Taylor embezzled about $86,994.58 in Social Security benefits during the period of May 2016 through May 2022 that were intended for her minor child. However, she did not notify the Social Security Administration when she lost custody of the child in May 2016.

Instead, Taylor actually called the SSA in October 2021 to update the contact info for the child so she could continue to receive the benefits.

She also visited the SSA field office in June 2022 to reactivate the child’s benefits and provided two fraudulent forms claiming the child still lived with her, and that she spent all of the benefits she received on the child’s care, when she had actually been using them to pay her own bills.

The charge of theft of public funds can lead to up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater.