NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (WPRI) — A New Bedford man has been charged with stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in disability pensions from a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy.
Joseph Smith, 71, was charged with theft of government benefits. Levy said Smith is currently in custody on unrelated charges.
According to court documents, the victim, who was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in August 2015, had been approved for disability benefits by the U.S. Veterans Affairs Administration (VBA).
In total, the victim was to receive monthly payments of approximately $8,318. Starting in September 2015, the VBA began mailing checks to the victim’s former New Bedford residence, where he lived before being hospitalized.
According to court documents, Smith accepted those checks and deposited them into various bank accounts between 2015 and 2020 while the victim was hospitalized with ALS.
According to court documents, Smith initially directly deposited the checks into bank accounts in his own name, but eventually opened fraudulent accounts in the victims’ names and began using those accounts.
Levy said Smith would withdraw the money from the bank accounts shortly after depositing it and use it for personal expenses. Smith is estimated to have stolen more than $450,000 in disability benefits from the VBA that were supposed to be paid to his victims.
“We all owe our veterans a debt of gratitude for their service to our country,” Levy said. “The theft of disability benefits that were meant for a 20-year veteran facing a life-threatening illness, as alleged here, is outrageous. The immorality uncovered by our criminal justice system is, at times, simply staggering.”
Smith is scheduled to appear in federal court on June 11. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison, three years of probation and a fine of at least $250,000.