Suffolk Man Who Bilked Social Security Of Over $160K In Disability Pleads Guilty: DA

RIVERSIDE, NY — A Shirley man pleaded guilty to identity theft and grand larceny in connection with his assuming his dead U.S. Army and Vietnam War veteran brother’s identity to fraudulently collect disability benefits while working, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney’s office said Wednesday.

Stavros Tsakonis stole over $160,000 in disability benefits by falsely claiming to the U.S. Social Security Administration that he was disabled and could not work from February 2015 to January 2023, prosecutors said, adding that he continued working and earning income as a plumber while using the personal identifying information of his dead brother, Chris Tsakonis.

On Jan. 25, 2023, Tsakonis was seen going inside the Social Security Administration’s office in Patchogue using the assistance of a walker, according to prosecutors.

After completing a form claiming that he had not worked since February 1989, and re-affirming he was disabled, he was surveilled walking unaided, without the assistance of any person or device, prosecutors said.

A review of the defendant’s financial records, combined with multiple law enforcement surveillance, revealed he was gainfully employed as a plumber and had earned income as far back as February 2015, under the name of his brother, who died in 2012, according to prosecutors.

Tsakonis admitted to fraudulently filing paperwork with the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles to obtain a driver’s license and register several vehicles in the name of his brother, prosecutors said.

He also admitted to filing fraudulent documentation with the Suffolk County of Consumer Affairs office to apply for and renew a Master Plumbing License in his brother’s name, as well as identifying himself as his brother during a traffic stop conducted by a member of Suffolk’s Sheriff’s office, according to prosecutors.

Tierney said “greed led” Tsakonis “to exploit the death of his brother, so that he could work under his brother’s name and simultaneously claim a full disability under his own name.

“Instead of respecting his brother’s memory, this defendant used the opportunity to start a plumbing business and purchase vehicles, while lining his own pockets with fraudulently obtained taxpayer funds for a supposed disability,” he said.

“This eight-month-long investigation uncovered this scam artist’s scheme to work under the identity of his deceased veteran brother while obtaining over $160,000 in fraudulent disability benefits.”

Suffolk CountySheriff Errol Toulon applauded his investigators, the DA’s office, “and all of our law enforcement partners for their collaboration to expose this man’s abuse of a system meant to help those in need.”

Tsakonis also pleaded guilty to second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument; three counts of second-degree identity theft and first-degree falsifying a business record, as well as two counts of first-degree offering a false instrument for filing and one count of second-degree criminal impersonation.

Tsakonis, 61, is due back in court on Oct. 3, and is expected to be sentenced to six months in jail followed by five years of probation.

As required by the conditions of his plea, he is also required to pay $169, 333 in restitution to the U.S. Social Security Administration.

Patch has reached out to his attorney, Michael Brown of Central Islip.