A Fall River woman was sentenced to prison Monday in federal court in Boston for stealing her child’s Social Security benefits for six years.
Nancy Taylor, 45, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV to 10 months in prison. She will also have three years of supervised release. Taylor was also ordered to pay $86,994 in restitution. Taylor was indicted by a federal grand jury in April 2024. In February, Taylor pleaded guilty to one count of theft of government money.
In 2014, Taylor was told she had to inform the Social Security Administration (SSA) if her child left her custody. However, she did not notify the agency when she lost custody in 2016.
From May 2016 through May 2022, Taylor took about $86,994 in Social Security benefits that were intended for her child.
In October 2021, she updated contact information for the child so that she could continue receiving her child’s benefits. And in June 2022, Taylor visited an SSA field office to reactivate her receipt of her child’s benefits and provided two fraudulent forms claiming that her child still lived with her and that she spent all the Social Security benefits she received for her child’s care.
“In reality, Taylor used the vast majority of the stolen funds to pay her own bills,” The United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts said in a press release.
