May 7, 2021
Sonya Bannister Burford, age 53, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, pleaded guilty on May 5, 2021, to the federal charge of theft of government property, for stealing $322,938 in Social Security benefits to which she was not entitled.
The guilty plea was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge Michael McGill of the Social Security Administration (SSA) – Office of Inspector General (OIG), Philadelphia Field Division; and Special Agent in Charge Rico Medina of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) – OIG.
According to her guilty plea, Burford’s husband, who was receiving SSA Disability Insurance benefits, died on August 30, 1996. Upon his death, Burford failed to disclose to SSA that he had died and SSA continued to make monthly benefits payments. Between September 1996 and January 2020, Burford received and spent $322,938 in benefits paid to her husband after his death to wh