Social Security Fraud Plea Ends In Repayment Order For Montco Woman

Editor's Note: Some aspects of this story have been corrected from an earlier version after Patch spoke with Stephanie Rudnick.

PLYMOUTH MEETING, PA — A Southeastern Pennsylvania woman was ordered to serve a term of court supervision and to pay back more than $43,000 to the federal government after admitting to stealing Social Security benefits that were supposed to go to her deceased mother.

Stephanie Rudnick, 52, of Media, Delaware County, was sentenced in federal court in Philadelphia last month after her pleading guilty in June to one count of conversion of government funds, a class C felony.

She was ordered to pay the restitution and to serve out three years' probation, according to court records.

Rudnick was one of 12 individuals mentioned on Monday by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania who had been charged by the feds in recent time with a scheme to steal Social Security benefits.

Out of the dozen individuals charged, nine, including Rudnick, have thus far admitted to their crimes through guilty pleas.

In court papers filed in mid-September, Rudnick's lawyer, Robert C. Keller, wrote that his client was "not a career criminal," and simply "made a poor decision," but one that should not affect the rest of her life.

At the time, Keller asked that his client not be given jail time in connection with her guilty plea.

"Ms. Rudnick is a peaceful person and her serving a noncustodial sentence will not be a threat to the community," Keller wrote in his filing. "She is hopeful in looking to move forward from the stigma and the consequences of her conviction."

The filing, which was submitted to the court in advance of Rudnick's sentencing by U.S. District Court Judge Timothy J. Savage, offers some insight into Rudnick's background and why she may have stolen the federal benefits.

Keller mentions the death of Rudnick's mother in the fall of 2019; the woman was struck and killed by a driver when she was 73 years old.

Rudnick reportedly isolated herself following her mother's death and was afraid to go outside.

"It felt like time stopped ... I felt like I could have stopped it," Rudnick reportedly stated according to the court filing.

Rudnick, who is single and without children, told Patch in a follow-up interview after the disposition of her court case that she lived with her mother in South Jersey until the time her mother was killed in early October 2019.

(She said she does not live in Plymouth Meeting, as was reported by the government, but rather Media, Pa.)

Rudnick said her mother died in early October 2019 after being struck by a vehicle on a street in Thorofare, a South Jersey town in Gloucester County.

She said the driver was never charged criminally in connection with the accident.

The court filing says that Rudnick suffered through hardships such as unemployment during the COVID-19 pandemic, and that she is remorseful for having spent the government funds.

In her interview, Rudnick told Patch that the Social Security money kept being directly deposited into a joint checking account that she shared with her mother despite the fact that her mom had already passed away.

At the time, Rudnick said she had power of attorney over her mother's affairs.

"Choosing homelessness would have been the better choice than using funds simply because the government made a mistake and kept sending them," Rudnick stated, according to the court filing from her lawyer. "Nothing that happened during those months was ever premeditated or done with intent to fraud. I was not thinking at all like I am today or prior to the day my mother was murdered. I am not excusing my behavior at all. I just want it to be clear that my environment, circumstances - traumatic events and global pandemic, the likes we have never seen before; played a role in my very mentally unstable mind."

The U.S. Attorney's Office, however, said there is no excuse from stealing federal benefits.

"Social Security benefits are intended to help Americans who have worked hard and need some extra help making ends meet," U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero said in a statement. "Thieves who take these funds fraudulently are taking advantage of American workers and taxpayers who fund these programs."

Romero noted that it is a federal crime to steal Social Security benefits that belong to someone else.

"Our work to protect Social Security programs and taxpayers' funds from criminals is one of our highest priorities," Romero stated.

The other individuals named in the list of dozen defendants charged with similar benefits fraud live in Philadelphia, Bucks County, Delaware County, Tobyhanna, Pa., Wernersville, Pa. and New Jersey.