Ex-Queens Cop Arrested For Stealing $130K From Social Security

LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS — A former NYPD lieutenant living in Queens was arrested for stealing more than $130,000 in Social Security benefits meant for his twin children, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday.

Long Island City resident Michael Conway is facing a federal wire fraud charge for lying to the Social Security Administration to get ahold of funds meant for the "care and support" of his twins, according to federal prosecutors and a law enforcement source.

Conway, 60, started receiving retirement and disability benefits in 2009 for a work-related injury, newly unsealed court records show. He applied for auxiliary benefits for his kids, then eight years old, claiming they lived with him in Queens and had no other relatives taking care of them.

He received just over $138,000 in auxiliary benefits for the kids over nine years, not including two years worth of back payments, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York.

Meanwhile, the twins were living with their mother, who had custody over them.

They realized what happened in September 2018, when the mother went with one of the twins, who is legally blind, to their local SSA office to help him get benefits for disabled adults with limited income and resources.

The family then learned that the agency had been paying benefits for the twins to Conway dating back to 2007.

Conway appeared in Brooklyn federal court Wednesday before United States Magistrate Judge James Orenstein.

"This arrest should serve as a warning to those who choose to defraud Social Security's disability programs," SSA Inspector General Gail S. Ennis said in a statement.