Social Security Scammer Gets Year in Federal Prison

A Pennsauken man who hoarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in Social Security checks designated for his dead father could've ended up in federal prison for a decade, but got a much lighter punishment when sentenced this week.

Michael Shelton, 66, will spend a year in prison and spend three years on supervised release, as ordered by U.S. District Court Judge Jerome B. Simandle, and will have to pay every penny of the more than $200,000 he stole from the government.

Shelton admitted that when his father died in March 1990, he intentionally did not notify the Social Security Administration (SSA), as he was obligated to do, so he could continue to receive his father’s SSA retirement checks. The SSA discovered Shelton's father's death more two decades later, in June 2012, at which time the deceased man was receiving $977 in monthly retirement benefits.

After his father died, Shelton set up a direct deposit for the checks into a PNC Bank account in his father’s name, authorities said. Shelton acknowledged he accessed that account at various times and used the money to pay for personal expenses.

Shelton admitted that from March 1990 to July 2012, he collected a total of $204,606 to which he was not entitled, which will all have to be repaid under the sentence Simandle imposed this week.

Tim Zatzariny Jr. contributed to this report.