Omission can be a mistake resulting from neglect or lack of proper attention. Or it can be deliberate (which makes it another form of lying.) A press release from the Social Security Administration (SSA) Office of the Inspector General tells about a woman whose lies of omission led her to defraud the government agency of more than $30,000.
The press release states that the woman began receiving Social Security disability benefits more than 15 years ago. Approximately 11 years later, she became self-employed and earned enough money to make her ineligible to receive any disability benefits at all. (When interviewed by the SSA, she did report her nominal earnings from a job she held with the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post, but she chose not to disclose her self-employment income.) Because she omitted the truth about her income, she received $30,230 in disability benefits she did not deserve.
Her lies finally caught up with her and she confessed her illegal actions to investigators. The fraudster also admitted that she knew her additional earnings would have disqualified her from the government benefits program. (So, not just a mistake.) The 44-year-old woman pleaded guilty to Social Security fraud and faces up to five years in prison.
It’s a pretty good bet that this woman regrets her decision to withhold the whole truth from the government now that she has been caught. Let’s hope she has learned the difference between and innocent mistake and a guilty one.
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