Woman gets probation for cashing dead father’s federal retirement checks

LEE COUNTY — An adopted daughter who cashed her dead father’s federal retirement checks up to 14 years after his death was sentenced Tuesday to five years of probation and house arrest.

U.S. District Judge Charlene Honeywell ordered Lisa Kay Maitland, 52, to serve 180 days of house detention and to pay $23,378.90 in restitution to the federal Office of Personnel Management, which pays Civil Service retirement benefits to federal employees.

Maitland, a legal assistant in Lee County for 30 years, pleaded guilty in October to conversion of government funds for embezzling that amount, which was deposited into a joint bank account with her father, Presler Throckmorton, from June 1, 2005, through Feb. 1, 2006.

The Lehigh Acres man died in 1992 at 83, but the last $2,650.22 monthly check was deposited 14 years later. Due to the statute of limitations, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Michelland couldn’t prosecute her for the full amount, $167,352.07, sent to that account — or all that the government sent after Throckmorton’s death: $361,616.86.

Defense attorney Terry L. Johnson of Michigan argued that Elizabeth Throckmorton received her husband’s retirement benefits until she became very ill in the late 1990s and a lawyer advised Maitland to open a separate bank account due to Medicare requirements. He said Maitland became her mother’s caregiver, using the money to pay hefty medical bills, ambulance fees and nursing home costs until she died Feb. 17, 2002, after a stroke.

But the judge discounted that defense.

“It’s pretty clear she didn’t use these funds for her mother,” Honeywell said, noting she continued taking money out of the account years after her death. “To me, it smacks more of greed than anything else. ... Perhaps she got used to the money coming in on a monthly basis.”

“I’m troubled by the fact that she worked in the legal community and felt pressed to commit this offense,” the judge said, agreeing Maitland wouldn’t commit another crime, but should serve more than probation.

After a retiree’s death, benefits are transferred to a spouse if the government receives an application. But the maximum benefit is 55 percent and she never applied.

The government never reduced Throckmorton’s benefits because it didn’t learn of his death until his wife died. Surviving children can only receive benefits until age 18 or 22, if a child is a full-time student.

The deposits continued after his death and Maitland opened another account in her and her father’s name in March 2000, using both their signatures.

She faced up to 10 years in prison, a fine and restitution, but had no prior record, not even a ticket. A pre-sentence investigation recommended 12 to 18 months in prison, two to three years of supervised release and a $3,000 to $30,000 fine.

Citing Maitland’s clean record, Johnson sought leniency and argued she couldn’t find records to prove she’d used money for her mother because some nursing homes and services went out of business and she hadn’t kept old records. He contended part of the prosecution should have been against the mother, not Maitland.

“Five years after (the account) was closed, they come forward and say ‘We gotcha,’ “ Johnson said of the 2010 indictment, noting the account was opened 10 years before that.

Although Johnson contended Maitland sent two letters to notify the government of her mother’s death, Michelland said there was no proof. He argued Maitland didn’t write checks out of that account for a reason.

“It’s pretty clear that by taking the money out in cash, it could not be traced,” Michelland said, pointing out nearly $144,000 was cashed after her mother died.

Maitland’s defense was contradicted by what she told an Office of Personnel Management investigator, that her mother didn’t have access to the account, he said, contending probation wasn’t sufficient and jail time, even weekends, was needed as a deterrent.

“With the economy the way it is ... with the federal government having to cut its budget in many ways,” he said, “this is a woman who is contributing to that.”