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Gwinnett County, Georgia police arrested an 87-year-old woman and her 89-year-old husband, who allegedly stole $1 million from her deceased mother’s pension payments.
Records show Mary Ann Arceneaux and her husband Ernest Arceneaux, of Snellville, Georgia, stole pension payments intended for her mother, who died in 2010.
According to the arrest warrant, Mary Ann Arceneaux’s mother retired from her teaching job and moved to California in 1991. She died in June 2010, but Mary Ann did not report her mother’s death to the California State Teachers’ Retirement System.
Police allege that the Arceneauxs forged documents to show that her mother was still alive since 2010.
“The daughter failed to notify anybody, the bank, the California Teacher Retirement System, or anybody that she had passed away,” Ryan Winderweedle of the Gwinnett County Police Department told WSB-TV.
Officials with the California State Teachers’ Retirement System soon discovered the ruse when Arceneaux’s mother turned 120 years old – and she was still collecting her pension.
“They were able to locate a death certificate on that former employee who was deceased in 2010,” Winderweedle said.
According to police, the pension checks were deposited into a bank account, and then transferred to other accounts controlled by the Arceneauxs.
The Arceneauxs allegedly stole $1,116,862.69, according to the arrest warrant.
The Arceneauxs were arrested last week and charged with identity fraud and theft by deception. They have since posted bail.
