Hope man pleads guilty to collecting deceased mothers social security benefits

By News Staff

jvcianci@gmail.com

A Rhode Island man pleaded guilty in federal court in Providence today to one count of theft of government funds.

Luke Clarke, 72, of Hope, R.I., admitted to the court that he had been collecting his deceased mothers social security benefits from January of 1998 to October of 2014.

The investigation was carried about by the Social Security Administration.

The Social Security Administration was never notified of his mothers death. Clarke collected her retirement benefits in the amount of $1,517 that was deposited into a bank account that they shared.

Clarke is scheduled to be sentenced on November 12, 2015.

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