A D.C. woman faces almost three years in jail for stealing over $400,000 from elderly residents in her care.
Rosemary Ogbenna, 46, was sentenced Tuesday to 32 months in prison for what the Justice Department said was a scheme to steal government benefits, including Social Security Administration and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs funds.
She pleaded guilty in 2022 to mail fraud charges and making false statements. Ogbenna carried out her scheme from 2009 to 2020, during which she became the representative payee of the benefits of some of the tenants in her rooming house, according to a news release from the United States District’s Attorney’s Office District of Columbia.
The funds, which she used for “her own personal use and benefit,” were intended for the care of elderly, mentally ill, disabled and veteran beneficiaries, the Justice Department said. She also lied to agents investigating her scheme, telling them that she paid those she took the funds from when she had not.
In addition to her prison term, the judge ordered three years of supervised release, more than $523,000 in restitution, and forfeiting the same amount. Her sentences on two counts will run concurrently.
