Thursday, April 11, 2024

Defendants Allegedly Stole Victim’s Social Security Benefits

            WASHINGTON – Linda Laird, 59, and her father, James Blizzard, 80, both of Cordova, Maryland, are charged in a five-count indictment, unsealed today, with conspiracy to commit Social Security fraud and theft of public money, conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, mail fraud, financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult or elderly person, and fraud in the first degree against a senior citizen. The charges were announced today by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Daniel W. Lucas, Inspector General for the District of Columbia. The defendants appeared in District Court today and were released pending trial.

            The indictment was returned on April 9, 2024, by a grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. According to court documents, beginning in November 2017, Laird and Blizzard conspired and engaged in a scheme to deceive the Superior Court of the District of Columbia into appointing them as co-guardians and co-conservators of a vulnerable adult. At the time, the vulnerable adult was 81 years of age and suffered from severe cognitive impairments that rendered her incapacitated and required her to reside in a nursing home located in Washington, D.C. 

            While the vulnerable adult resided in the nursing home, Laird and Blizzard were required, in part, to act as fiduciaries and apply the vulnerable adult’s money towards her support, care, habilitation, and treatment. Instead, the indictment alleges, Laird and Blizzard used their authority as co-guardians and co-conservators to redirect U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) benefits intended for, and checking account funds belonging to, the vulnerable adult to their personal bank accounts for their own benefit. In total, Laird and Blizzard diverted more than $21,000 in Social Security benefits and obtained over $85,000 from the vulnerable adult’s bank account for their personal use. Laird and Blizzard did not use these funds to pay for the vulnerable adult’s care.

            This case is being investigated by the D.C. Office of the Inspector General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, the U.S. Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General, and the Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. It is being prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Facci, on detail from the D.C. Office of the Inspector General.

            An indictment is merely an allegation that a defendant has committed a violation of criminal laws and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.